NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Most Detailed View Yet of Wind-Carved Yardangs on Mars' Mount Sharp
On August 11 at 8:30 a.m. local Mars time, NASA's Curiosity rover took six photographs of wind-shaped cliffs on Mars, producing the most intricate panorama of yardangs located on the northwest flank of Mount Sharp within Gale Crater. Since its landing in 2012, Curiosity has been ascending Mount Sharp, achieving an elevation of 0.6 miles on August 26. Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada likened the landscape to Monument Valley, highlighting its unique orange sky and blue-tinged dawn. The yardangs may be composed of ash from ancient volcanic activity, with Curiosity planning to reach the base of these formations by 2027. Additionally, NASA's Perseverance rover recently achieved a record for the longest distance traveled on a celestial body.
Key facts
- Curiosity's Mastcam captured six images on August 11 at 8:30 a.m. local Mars time
- The panorama shows yardangs on the northwest side of the three-mile-tall Mount Sharp in Gale Crater
- Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012 and has climbed Mount Sharp since 2014
- On August 26, Curiosity reached 0.6 miles of elevation, a record for Martian rovers
- Scientists aim for Curiosity to reach the base of the yardangs in 2027
- Curiosity launched in 2011 as the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars
- The rover discovered organic molecules representing building blocks for life earlier this year
- Perseverance recently set a record for the farthest distance driven on an extraterrestrial surface
Entities
Artists
- Ashwin Vasavada
- Andrew Coates
- Steven Lee
- Will Dunham
- Hannah Devlin
- Margherita Bassi
Institutions
- NASA
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- California Institute of Technology
- University College London
- Reuters
- The Guardian
- Smithsonian Magazine
- BBC Travel
- Discover magazine
- Live Science
- Atlas Obscura
- Hidden Compass
- PetaPixel
- Curiosity
Locations
- Mars
- Gale Crater
- Mount Sharp
- Monument Valley
- Arizona
- United States
- Tasmania
- Miami
- North Dakota
- China
- Southern California
- California