The View of Mount Sharp

Curiosity Pans Around and Finds Rock Layers

Today planetary scientists presented their latest views of the surface of Mars taken by the Curiosity rover.  The minute I saw this image I thought of hiking through Utah or Arizona, where you can find similar-looking rock layers.  But, the cool thing here is that THIS image shows us Mars as it can never be seen from orbit.  You had to be ON Mars in some form to see this scene. If this is what we’re getting after only 20 sols, imagine what we’re going to see as Curiosity moves out on its extended travels. According to Curiosity’s scientists, the rover will be exploring this scene some months from now. There’s a lot of other interesting science to be done between now and the time it gets to Mount Sharp in Gale Crater.

Now, if we could just figure out a way to get humans there sometime soon.  The kinds of exploration that a geologist on the surface could do are just mind-boggling!

Want to know more about the Curiosity mission?  Go to the NASA Mars Website and browse the Red Planet to your heart’s content!