The Curiosity Mars rover covers quite a lot of floor for a robotic that solely strikes at a max pace of .1 mph. A photograph snapped not too long ago by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter supplies a fairly cool visualization of what the rover has been as much as to this point this yr, displaying the tracks Curiosity left behind because it journeyed from its earlier science goal — an space referred to as the Gediz Vallis channel — to its subsequent vacation spot. The rover itself is only a tiny speck on the entrance of the roughly 1,050-foot-long path, and in accordance with NASA, this snap “is believed to be the primary orbital picture of the rover mid-drive throughout the Purple Planet.”
The picture was captured on February 28 by the orbiter’s HiRISE (Excessive-Decision Imaging Science Experiment) digital camera, and reveals Curiosity’s motion over 11 drives beginning at the start of that month. Whereas a number of weeks would possibly seem to be a very long time for tire tracks to stay round within the grime, that is regular for Mars. The tracks are “[l]ikely to final for months earlier than being erased by wind,” NASA says. Curiosity is predicted to achieve its subsequent science vacation spot, which is dwelling to formations thought to have been created way back by groundwater, within the coming weeks.
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