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Curiosity and the Exploration of Gale Crater
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SOL0738-1581_PIA25821-web.gif131 visiteNASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to take a series of images of drifting clouds just before sunrise on March 18, 2023, the 738th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Scientists on both the Perseverance mission and NASA's Curiosity rover mission are studying the formation process of Martian clouds.
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.MareKromium
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SOL0043-PIA16155.jpg'Jake Matijevic' - Sol 43 (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)153 visiteCaption NASA:"The drive by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Curiosity during the Mission's 43rd Martian Day, or Sol, (such as September 19, 2012) ended with this Rock that lies at about 8 feet (such as 2,5 meters) from the Rover. The Rock is about 10" (inches, such as approx. 25 centimeters) tall and 16" (approx. 40 centimeters) wide. The Rover Team has assessed it as a suitable target for the first use of Curiosity's Contact Instruments on a Rock. The image was taken by the left Navigation Camera (or NavCam) at the end of the drive.
The rock has been named "Jake Matijevic", and this choice was made with the aim of commemorating Jacob Matijevic (1947-2012), who was the Surface Operations Systems Chief Engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the Project's Curiosity Rover. He was also a Leading Engineer for all of the previous NASA Mars Rovers, such as Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity.
Curiosity's Contact Instruments are on a turret at the end of the Rover's Robotic Arm; they are the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (for reading the target's elemental composition) and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (for close-up imaging).MareKromium
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SOL0044-EB-MF-LXTT-IPF.jpg'Jake Matijevic' - Sol 44 (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Elisabetta Bonora and Marco Faccin/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)119 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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SOL3423-PIA25176-8192x2276.jpg"(Alli)Gator Back" Rocks on "Greenheugh" - Sol 3423146 visiteNASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or MastCam, to take this 360° panorama on March 23, 2022, the 3.423th Martian Day, or Sol, of the Mission. The team has informally described the wind-sharpened rocks seen here as “gator-back” rocks because of their scaly appearance.
Wind-sharpened rocks like these are called ventifacts, and are responsible for chewing up Curiosity’s wheels earlier in the mission. Since then, rover engineers have found ways to slow wheel wear, including a traction control algorithm. They also plan rover routes that avoid driving over such rocks, including these latest ventifacts, which are made of sandstone – the hardest type of rock Curiosity has encountered on Mars.
These rocks form the Surface of the “Greenheugh Pediment,” a broad, sloping plain in the foothills of Mount Sharp. The floor of Gale Crater is visible along the edges of the mosaic. When Curiosity’s team saw the gator-back rocks, they ultimately decided to turn the rover around and take an alternative path to continue climbing Mount Sharp, a 3,4-mile-tall (approx. 5,5-Km-tall) mountain that Curiosity has been ascending since 2014. As it climbs, Curiosity is able to study different sedimentary layers shaped by water billions of years ago. These layers help scientists understand whether microscopic life could have survived in the ancient Martian Environment.MareKromium
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SOL0054-PIA14762-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpg"Bathurst Inlet" Rock - Sol 54 (Absolute Natural Colors; credts for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)104 visite...Solo per evidenziare agli Amici di Lunar Explorer Italia la differenza che esiste tra il color processing adottato dalla NASA/JPL-Caltech (in collaborazione con il Malin Space Science Systems) e quello adottato da noi. E attenzione: qui non si discute di "estetica", ma di "verosimiglianza"! Il color processing NASA (quello del frame che precede, tanto per intenderci), presuppone l'esistenza di una nebbia gialla FITTA E COSTANTE! Una nebbia che, laddove esistesse davvero, impedirebbe di vedere oltre i 5/8 metri! Ora, che su Marte esista una discreta Opacità Atmosferica nessuno ne dubita. E nessuno dubita che Marte abbia una Dominante Cromatica giallo/arancio.
Ma quello che le foto colorizzate "ufficiali" fanno vedere e vorrebbero rappresentare, secondo noi, è un Marte che - semplicemente - non esiste, se non a Pasadena e nella testa dei Signori del MSSS. Poi, giustamente, ognuno la può vedere come vuole. Ergo...Giudicate Voi!MareKromium
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SOL0054-EB-MF-LXTT-IPF-1.jpg"Bathurst Inlet" Rock - Sol 54 (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Elisabetta Bonora and Marco Faccin/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)92 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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SOL0054-PIA14762-NASA-JPL-Caltech-MSSS.jpg"Bathurst Inlet" Rock - Sol 54 (Natural Colors; credts: NASA/JPL-Caltech, Malin Space Science Systems)83 visiteNASA's Mars Rover Curiosity held its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera about 10,5" (---> inches, such as about 27 centimeters) away from the top of a Rock called "Bathurst Inlet" for a set of 8 images combined into this merged-focus view of the Rock. This context image covers an area that is roughly 6,5 by 5" (such as 16 by 12 centimeters). Resolution is about 105 microns per pixel.
MAHLI took the component images for this merged-focus view, plus closer-up images of Bathurst Inlet, during Curiosity's 54th Martian Day, or Sol (such as September 30, 2012). The instrument's principal investigator had invited Curiosity's science team to "MAHLI it up!" in the selection of Sol 54 targets for inspection with MAHLI and with the other instrument at the end of Curiosity's Arm: the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer.
The "Bathurst Inlet" Rock is dark gray and appears to be so fine-grained that MAHLI cannot resolve Grains or Crystals in it. This means that the Grains or Crystals, if there are any at all, are smaller than about 80 microns in size. Some windblown sand-sized Grains or Dust Aggregates have accumulated on the Surface of the Rock, but this Surface is clean (if compared, for example, to the pebbly substrate below the rock - upper left and lower right in this context image).
MAHLI can do focus merging onboard the MER and, in fact, the full-frame versions of the 8 separate images that were combined into this view were not even returned to Earth -- just the thumbnail versions. In other words, merging the images onboard reduces the volume of data that is supposed to be downlinked to Earth.MareKromium
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SOL0020-MR0107005000C0_DXXX.jpg"Flower" and "White-Head" - Sol 20 (Original NASA - MER Curiosity b/w frame - Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech; credits for the Research: Dr Gianluigi Barca/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)133 visiteCominciando dall'immagine di Dx (CTX ed EDM): gli Amici di pasadena non hanno (che si sappia) mai commentato questo "Rocky Outcrop". Noi, grazie all'ottimo Lavoro di Ricerca del Dr Gianluigi Barca, Vi proponiamo il Frame RAW Originale in b/n. Si tratta di un "Affioramento Roccioso" o di un "Fiore Marziano"? O forse di una sorta di "nido"? O forse è il residuo di una struttura più complessa e più grande di matrice non naturale? O è solo uno "scherzo" della Natura?!?
Come sapete bene, noi non abbiamo la Verità tra le mani, e quindi Vi offriamo questa "Stranezza Marziana" affinchè possiate fare le Vostre (e SOLO Vostre) valutazioni. Noi ci limitiamo a sottolineare un curioso dettaglio (più un modo di pensare ed agire che un fatto concreto, in realtà): quante immagini di rocce più o meno insignificanti vengono commentate dagli Amici di Pasadena e poi, alle volte, divengono oggetto di veri e prori "Abstracts"? Tantissime. Da "Humphrey" (un macigno ripreso dal MER Spirit), ad "N165", ripresa proprio dal MER Curiosity (e se questa roccia del tutto insignificante la volete vedere, andate sul NASA Planetary Photojournal, scegliete la Galleria dedicata a Marte e poi digitate, nella funzione "Go directly to image (PIxxxxxx)", posizionata in alto a destra, il codice "PIA16073").
E quante rocce in equilibrio impossibile o dalle forme assurde vengono, sempre dagli Amici di Pasadena, isolate e commentate? Nessuna. Mai. E allora, delle due l'una: o noi siamo degli "specialisti" nel focalizzare il nostro interesse su dettagli insignificanti (il che può anche essere...), oppure alla NASA soffrono di una forma quasi terminale di "strabismo selettivo". E come sempre, ora decidete Voi quello che volete credere e pensare...
Per quanto attiene, poi, la Roccia visibile alla Sx del Frame (anche qui in CTX ed EDM), appuntita e dalla punta "bianca", diremmo che si tratta di una ulteriore Stranezza, ancorchè di spiegazione più agevole. Quale? Probabilmente si tratta di una roccia che giaceva infossata (parzialmente) e che poi, per qualche ragione ignota (probabilmente per motivi accidentali), è stata "estratta", "rimossa" dal suolo, in maniera tale da finire con l'esporre quella che era la porzione sepolta. Se poi ci chiedeste come mai quel colorito "bianco-latte" (o bianco-ghiaccio"?!?)...Purtroppo non sapremmo risponderVi.MareKromium
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SOL0039-PIA16156.jpg"Hard" Mars... - Sol 39 (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)112 visite...Bisogna pure sorridere, in qualche modo ed in qualche misura...
Caption NASA:"NASA's Curiosity Rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing Stream on Mars at a few sites, including the Rock Outcrop pictured here, which the science team has named "Hottah" after Hottah Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories. It may look like a broken sidewalk, but this geological feature on Mars is actually exposed Bedrock made up of smaller fragments cemented together, or what geologists call a "Sedimentary Conglomerate". Scientists theorize that the Bedrock was disrupted in the past, giving it the titled angle, most likely via impacts from Meteorites.
The key evidence for the ancient Stream comes from the size and rounded shape of the Gravel in and around the Bedrock. Hottah has pieces of gravel embedded in it, called clasts, up to a couple inches (few centimeters) in size and located within a matrix of sand-sized material. Some of the clasts are round in shape, leading the Science Team to conclude they were transported by a vigorous flow of Water. The Grains are too large to have been moved by Wind. A close-up view of Hottah reveals more details of the Outcrop. Broken surfaces of the Outcrop have rounded, Gravel Clasts, such as the one circled in white, which is about 1,2" (3 centimeters) across. Erosion of the Outcrop results in Gravel Clasts that protrude from the Outcrop and ultimately fall onto the Ground, creating the Gravel Pile at left".MareKromium
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SOL0382-MF-EB-LXTT-IPF.jpg"Laser" effects on Morning "Frost" at Gale? - Sol 382 (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Elisabetta Bonora and Marco Faccin/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)115 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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SOL0052-PIA16204-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpg"Rocknest" Site - Sol 52 (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)101 visiteCaption NASA:"This patch of windblown Sand and Dust downhill from a cluster of Dark Rocks is the so-called "Rocknest" Site, which has been selected as the likely location for first use of the scoop on the Robotic Arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Curiosity. This view is a mosaic of images taken by the telephoto right-eye camera of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the 52nd Martian Day, or Sol, of the mission (such as September, 28, 2012). Just 4 (four) Soles before, the Rover arrived at Rocknest. The "Rocknest" patch is about 8 by 16 feet (such as approx. 1,5 by 5 meters)".MareKromium
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SOL0120-PIA16707-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpg"Shaler Unit" - Sol 120 (Slightly Darkened Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)57 visiteCaption NASA:"This image from the Mast Camera (MastCam) onboard NASA's MER Curiosity shows a bizarre-looking Stratigraphic Unit (known as "Cross-Bedding") located in an Outcrop called "Shaler". This Stratigraphic Unit has been informally dubbed "Shaler Unit". This kind of "Cross-Bedding" in the Shaler Unit is indicative of Sediment transport in Stream Flows. Currents mold the Sediments into Small Underwater Dunes that migrated downstream. When exposed in cross-section, evidence of this Migration is preserved in the form of Strata that are steeply inclined as to the Bed (---> River or Lake's Floor) they lay on (thus the term "Cross-Bedding." The grain sizes here are coarse enough to exclude an Aeolian transport.
This Cross-Bedding occurs stratigraphically above the Gillespie Unit located in the "Yellowknife Bay" area of Gale Crater, and is therefore geologically younger. The MastCam obtained the image on the 120th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's Operations (such as December, 7th, 2012).MareKromium
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