Curiosity Mars rover snaps spectacular selfies

[Latest wonderful Mars Photos by NASA’s Curiosity Rover].

To understand more about the geography on Mars, the rover is facing north east, looking out over the plains from the crest of a six-metre hill that it climbed to reach the Marias Pass area. The triangular patch is where the rover drilled Buckskin (a dark circle shows where the hammer tool went into the ground), while the other is a dump of powdered rock too large to be analyzed. Over the past few days, the rover has moved 433 feet, bring its total distance traveled since its August 2012 touchdown to 11.1 kilometers. Curiosity team members are eager to learn why the rock samples from this area have significantly higher levels of silica and hydrogen than other regions visited by the rover.

Silica, monitored with Curiosity’s laser-firing Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument, is a rock-forming chemical containing silicon and oxygen, commonly found on Earth as quartz. For monitoring hydrogen beneath the ground, the Curiosity has a Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument.

High levels of hydrogen were measured beneath the rover’s wheels in the area, meaning water molecules could be present in the area’s rocks.

So much water, that DAN spotted an interesting result in passive mode.

Curiosity examined the Marias Pass contact zone closely with instruments mounted on its mast and arm. The measurements confirmed hydrated material covered by a thin layer of drier material.

Mission boffins are pleased with the Rover’s recent performance because the Buckskin drilling was the first Curiosity has carried out since February.

“It could come back, but we have made changes in fault protection to continue safely drilling even in the presence of small shorts”, Lee added.

The upper levels of Mount Sharp are visible behind the rover, while Gale Crater’s northern rim dominates the horizon on the left and right of the image.