{"id":170019,"date":"2019-10-25T21:29:30","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T13:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/featured\/-1808528\/"},"modified":"2019-10-25T21:29:30","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T13:29:30","slug":"curiosity-rover-snaps-impressive-martian-selfie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/2019\/10\/25\/curiosity-rover-snaps-impressive-martian-selfie\/","title":{"rendered":"Curiosity Rover Snaps Impressive Martian Selfie"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NASA’s Curiosity rover took this selfie on Oct. 11, 2019 (via NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS)<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

After it’s retired from space exploration, NASA’s Curiosity rover could find a new career in photography.<\/span><\/p>\n

A fresh selfie<\/a>, snapped by the spacecraft on Oct. 11 at Glen Etive, is impressive not only for its scope and framing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The panorama was stitched together from 57 individual images taken by a camera on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also commemorates the second-ever time the rover has performed a special chemistry experiment.<\/span><\/p>\n

From its perch in Glen Etive (“Glen EH-tiv”)\u2014part of the “clay-bearing unit,” a region the mission team has long anticipated reaching\u2014you can see two holes Curiosity drilled: creatively named Glen Etive 1 (right) and Glen Etive 2 (left).<\/span><\/p>\n

The rover, according to NASA, can analyze the chemical composition of rock samples by powderizing them with a drill, then dropping the samples into a portable lab in its belly called Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM).<\/span><\/p>\n

SAM then heats the samples, “sniffing” the gases that bake off, looking for chemicals that hold clues about the Martian environment billions of years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gadget is also capable of special “wet chemistry” experiments, which make it easier to detect certain organic compounds important to the formation of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Glen Etive marks the second time Curiosity has performed wet chemistry since touching down on Mars in August 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We’ve been eager to find an area that would be compelling enough to do wet chemistry,” SAM Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement. “Now that we’re in the clay-bearing unit, we’ve finally got it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Clay-based rocks are good at preserving chemical compounds, which break down over time. Understanding how this area formed will give the science team a better idea of how the Martian climate was changing billions of years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The results will be known next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

“SAM’s data is extremely complex and takes time to interpret,” according to Mahaffy. “But we’re all eager to see what we can learn from this new location.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The car-sized rover, built to explore the Gale crater on Mars, was launched in November 2011; in December 2012, Curiosity’s two-year mission was extended indefinitely. The spacecraft is still operational<\/a>, and, as of Oct. 25, has been on Mars for 2566 sols (2636 Earth days).<\/span><\/p>\n

Curiosity’s design serves as the basis for the planned Mars 2020 rover, which will carry different scientific instruments.<\/span><\/p>\n

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