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April 17, 2024 |
Mars rover reaches ultimate destination Two years and several remarkable discoveries after it first landed on Mars, NASA's rover Curiosity has finally reached its ultimate destination inside Gale Crater: Mt. Sharp.
Formally known as Aeolis Mons, the mountain vaults, layer by sediment layer, to some 18,000 feet above the crater's northern floor. The lower layers, in particular, are of keen interest because they were deposited on what could have been an ancient lake bed. "We have finally arrived at the far frontier we have sought for so long," said John Grotzinger, the mission's project scientist, during a briefing. But data from Mars orbiters indicated that interesting geology lay on the surface not far from the rover's landing spot, at a formation the team named Yellowknife Bay. The formation, it was thought, might have some bearing on answering the mission's basic question: Could the area have supported microbial life? The path to Yellowknife Bay took Curiosity away from the mountain – and it hit pay dirt. Data that Curiosity gathered there within the rover's first 100 Martian days, or sols, revealed the existence of an ancient lake. But water alone does not a habitat make. Geochemical evidence that the rover gathered yielded other indications that the environment at the time would have rendered the area quite comfy for microbial life. The research team had the answer to the basic question that Curiosity was designed to address, and the rover hadn't even struck out for the base of the mountain yet, about 2-1/2 miles away. (Source: Christian Science Monitor) Story Date: September 14, 2014
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