2023-06-14 16:48:48
technology
The photograph is highly striking due to the way it was captured.
14/6/2023
After completing a major software upgrade in April, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured a panoramic ‘postcard’ of the ‘Marker Band Valley’ before leaving it behind.
Blue was added to parts of the postcard captured in the morning and yellow to parts taken in the followingnoon, just like with a similar postcard taken by Curiosity in November 2021.
The resulting image is striking. Curiosity sits on the slopes of Mount Sharp, which sits 5 kilometers high inside Gale Crater, where the rover has been exploring since it landed in 2012.
In the distance, beyond their tracks, is the Marker Band Valley, a winding area in “sulphate country” within which the rover discovered unexpected signs of an ancient lake. Further down (center and just to the right) are two hills, “Bolívar” and “Deepdale”, that Curiosity drove between as he explored “Paso Paraitepuy”.
“Anyone who’s been to a national park knows that the scene looks different in the morning than it does in the followingnoon,” said Curiosity engineer Doug Ellison of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who planned and processed the images. “Shooting two hours of the day gives dark shadows because the lighting comes in from the left and right, like on a stage, but instead of the stage lights, we’re relying on the sun.”
Adding to the depth of the shadows is the fact that it was winter, a period of less dust in the air, at Curiosity’s location when the images were taken. “The shadows of Mars become sharper and deeper when there is little dust and softer when there is a lot of dust,” added Ellison.
The image peers out beyond the rear of the rover, giving a glimpse of its three antennae and nuclear power source. The Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD instrument, shown as a white circle in the bottom right of the image, has been helping scientists learn how to shield the first astronauts sent to Mars from radiation on the planet’s surface.
The impressive images of Mars captured by the European Space Agency
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Mars Express mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) made the first live transmission via streaming from Mars, in order to share with the world a closer look at that planet.
It is worth remembering that the Mars Express mission represented the first space operation that Europe carried out on the red planet, by locating a probe to study the climate, atmosphere and search for traces of water on the surface of Mars.
During this broadcast, ESA also highlighted several relevant milestones from the Mars Express mission, highlighting the moment when the first images of Mars were achieved.
With information from Europa Press
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