The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) rover, Curiosity, has completed 3,000 Mars days, or sols, on the red planet. Curiosity reaches Mars on August 6, 2012. After completing this milestone, the space agency shared an official note in which it cites the discoveries Curiosity has made so far.
In the note, NASA mentions that Curiosity made quite a few discoveries as it gradually climbed Mount Sharp. It has been exploring the five-kilometer mountain since 2014. One of the photos that came through Curiosity shocked the scientists when it showed a series of rock banks in the most recent panorama of the mission. On November 18 last year, a total of 122 photos taken by Curiosity were of the mission’s 2,946 sol. The series of beautiful photos were clicked by the Mast Camera, or Mastcam, which is considered the eyes of the rover.
The note mentions that the curved rock terraces that one sees in the photos can be formed if there are harder and softer rock layers against a slope. The agency explained how this happens, when the softer layers start to erode, the harder layers form cliffs. This process leaves some bank-like formations behind. These formations can also occur during a landslide.
Ashwin Vasavada, project scientist, Curiosity, Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, NASA, said: “Our science team is excited to find out how they formed and what they mean for the ancient environment in Gale.”
Previously, this rover accomplished quite a few things, such as finding evidence that the red planet once had persistent liquid water and discovering that the planet was once lifelong fit. Furthermore, it has also been found that organic carbon molecules, the building blocks of life, are also available on Mars. The rover could also send evidence of current and active methane into Mars’ atmosphere; it has also detected radiation levels that can be dangerous to human health. One thing that ensured this was that Mars’ atmosphere used to be much thicker than it is today.
Meanwhile, Curiosity will soon get a company on Mars. The space agency will send another wanderer named ‘Perseverance’ in February this year. The main purpose of this rover is to bring monsters from Mars back to earth. This mission will also be the first mission to another planet.