Slippery Slope Sends Curiosity Rover On A New Route Across Mars
5/26/2015 @ 5:12AM 418 views
Slippery Slope Sends Curiosity Rover On A New Route Across Mars
NASA ’s Curiosity rover has started on a new route to investigate a geological boundary on Mars , after a slippery slope defeated the little dune buggy’s previous effort.
The rover has already climbed a hill to reach a comparable site where two distinctive types of bedrock meet. Curiosity has previously examined the pale rock that can be found on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp , and now the science team wants the rover to get a look at the darker, bedded rock on a nearby outcrop.
The first target site farther south was picked out two weeks ago, but Curiosity was foiled by slippery, sand slopes on the way there.
“Mars can be very deceptive,” said Chris Roumeliotis, Curiosity’s lead rover driver at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement.
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This view southeastward from Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) shows terrain judged difficult for traversing between the
rover and an outcrop in the middle distance where a pale rock unit meets a darker rock unit above it.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
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More:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridaineparnell/2015/05/26/slippery-slope-sends-curiosity-rover-on-a-new-route-across-mars/