NASA’s Curiosity spacecraft celebrates 3,000 days on Mars with an intense panorama

NASA’s Curiosity probe captured this panoramic image of Mars in November 2020.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

NASA’s Curiosity spacecraft landed on Mars on August 6, 2012 and has just celebrated the historic anniversary of 3,000 sols of living a good science life on the red planet.

Mars Day – called “Sol” – is a little longer than a day on Earth, taking just over 24 hours and 39 minutes. Scientists track Curiosity activities based on Seoul. For example, the rover’s initial photos are marked with a sol number, so a photo taken on the anniversary of its passage will be marked with “Sol 3000” along with the corresponding land date.

NASA celebrated the special event for Releasing a glorious panorama Tuesday. A breathtaking mosaic view of Gale Crater on Mars shows a portion of Mount Sharp, the massive central mountain inside the crater. Geologists were fascinated by seeing a series of rocky ‘benches’ in the latest panorama of the expedition, NASA said in a statement.

The panoramic panoramic image consists of 122 images taken by the rover on November 18, 2020, which were on Mars 2946.

Curiosity is now heading towards the crater area known as the “sulfate-bearing unit”. “Sulfates, such as gypsum and Epsom salts, usually form around water as it evaporates, which is further evidence of how climate and life prospects changed nearly 3 billion years ago,” NASA said When describing the rover trip to this new region.

NASA’s only working Mars spacecraft on the planet will soon be joined by its next-generation brother Rover perseverance Arrives in February. The long-lived Curiosity will continue its mission to study ancient environmental conditions on the Red Planet.

Here are 3000 Sols to come.

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