Launching a surreal panorama of Mars, evidence of the existence of water on the planet: watch the video

After one of the toughest climbs the mission has ever faced, the Curiosity rover has reached an area where there is evidence of water in Mars' past.

Three billion years ago, during one of the last wet periods on Mars, powerful debris flows carried clay and rock down the side of a massive mountain. The debris spread out, creating a formation that was later eroded by winds to form an imposing peak, preserving an interesting testimony to the island's “aquatic” past. Red planet. Now, after three attempts, NASA's Curiosity rover has arrived in this region, capturing the formation in a 360-degree panoramic mosaic with extreme resolution. After one of the toughest climbs the mission has ever faced, curiousity On August 14, he arrived in an area where he could study the long-awaited formation with his two-meter-long robotic arm.

Passione Astronomia channel has been created on WhatsApp! Sign up to receive all our updates

Exploring Mount Sharp on Mars

Since 2014, the rover has been climbing the lower 5-kilometre-high Mount Sharp, discovering evidence of ancient lakes and streams along the way. The mountain's different layers represent different eras of Mars' history. As curiosity grows, scientists are learning more about how the landscape changes over time. Gediz Vallis Ridge was among the last mountain features to form, making it one of the smallest geological time capsules Curiosity will study on Mars. The rover spent 11 days on the ridge, taking images and studying the formation of dark rocks that clearly originated elsewhere on the mountain. Debris flows that helped form the Gedes Valles mountain range These rocks were transported down from the upper layers of Mount Sharp.

The video consists of 136 images

On August 19, the rover's Mastcam captured 136 images of the summit of Gediz Vallis that, when stitched together into a mosaic, provide a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. This panoramic image shows the path taken by Curiosity along a mountainside on Mars, including through the Marker Band Valley, where evidence of an ancient lake has been discovered. While scientists are still mining images and data from the Gedes Valles mountain range, Curiosity has already turned to its next challenge: finding a route to the channel above the ridge so scientists can learn more about how and where water once flowed beneath Mount Sharp.. Below is the video:

source