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While the future of the Mars Opportunity rover remains unclear, NASA's Curiosity rover continues to squeeze and send amazing images and videos to the home of the red planet.
After collecting a new rock sample on the surface of Mars on August 9, the Curiosity rover recorded a video and 360-degree panoramic photo of its surroundings in Vera Rubin Ridge.
The US space agency said the photo – below – shows "dark skies, clouded by a global dust storm that is fading" and a "rare view by the Mast Camera of the mobile itself." It is important to note the layer of dust that covers the Curiosity rover, which gives an idea of what the Rover Opportunity has done on the planet:
Dust in the wind … and on my terrace. Explore the surface of #March with me in this new # 360video. Best in @Youtube app: https://t.co/na8oXc5Ify pic.twitter.com/8tRFu3Y2w3
– Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) September 6, 2018
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"The ridge is not this monolithic thing – it has two distinct sections, each with a variety of colors," said Ashwin Vasavada, a scientist from the Curiosity team, in a press release.
"Some are visible to the naked eye and even more so when we look in the near infrared, just beyond what our eyes can see, some seem to be related to the hardness of the rocks."
The release of this panoramic image and video from Vera Rubin Ridge follows an update to the Mars Opportunity rover, which NASA has not heard of since June 10th. The dust storm mentioned in this article was detected on May 30th. , and once was considered a weather event circling the planet.
NASA said the dust storm was starting to fade and that she thought the solar vehicle could get enough sunlight to "automatically start recovery procedures." The space agency says it has put in place a two-step plan "to provide the highest probability of communicating with the mobile and putting it back online" if this automatic recovery procedure is triggered.
"If we do not hear back after 45 days, the team will be forced to conclude that the dust blocking the sun and the Martian cold have conspired to cause some sort of fault that the rover will probably not be able to recover from. "said John Callas. , Project Manager Opportunity, said in the update.
"At this point, our active phase of Opportunity will be over. However, in the unlikely likelihood that a significant amount of dust will be on the solar panels that block the Sun's energy, we will continue our passive listening efforts. for several months. "
Regarding the new rock sample collected by the still active Curiosity rover, NASA reported it was the third drilling attempt at Pettegrove Point in Vera Rubin Ridge. One of the challenges of drilling on Mars is the fact that the space agency says it does not know how hard a rock will be before it starts drilling.
NASA is planning to search for two more drill samples this month, then head to "its scientific examination area" to climb the mountain. Tranchant. The Curiosity rover is expected to climb the Martian mountain from the beginning of October.
"The new drill sample delighted the Curiosity science team as the last two attempts to drill the rover were thwarted by unexpected rocks." Curiosity began using a new drilling method
"The test showed that it was as effective at drilling rocks as the old method, suggesting that hard rocks would have been a problem no matter what method was used."
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