If unable to nudge it back all the way, the mission would rely on the higher resolution 100 mm focal length right Mastcam as the primary color-imaging system. The mission continues to gradually nudge the filter wheel back toward its standard setting. 19, the left camera’s filter wheel has been stuck between filter positions, the effects of which can be seen on the mission’s raw, or unprocessed, images. To do that, Mastcam relies on filters arranged on a wheel that rotates under each camera’s lens. In addition to providing color images of the rover’s surroundings, each of Mastcam’s two cameras helps scientists determine from afar the composition of rocks by the wavelengths of light, or spectra, they reflect in different colors.Ĭuriosity at 'Sequoia' in 3D: This anaglyph version of Curiosity’s panorama taken at “Sequoia” can be viewed in 3D using red-blue glasses. Engineers are currently working to resolve an issue with one of the rover’s main “eyes” – the 34 mm focal length left camera of the Mast Camera, or Mastcam, instrument. Findings like this refine scientists’ understanding of how the Mars of today came to be.ĭespite having driven almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) through a punishingly cold environment bathed in dust and radiation since 2012, Curiosity remains strong. The team believes that after sulfate minerals first formed in salty water that was evaporating billions of years ago, these minerals transformed into starkeyite as the climate continued drying to its present state. In a recent paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, team members used data from Curiosity’s Chemistry and Mineralogy ( CheMin) instrument to discover a magnesium sulfate mineral called starkeyite, which is associated with especially dry climates like Mars’ modern climate. We’ve been anticipating these results for decades, and now Sequoia will tell us even more,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads the mission.ĭeciphering the clues to Mars’ ancient climate requires detective work. “The types of sulfate and carbonate minerals that Curiosity’s instruments have identified in the last year help us understand what Mars was like so long ago. Eventually, Mars’ liquid water disappeared for good. Scientists hope the sample will reveal more about how the climate and habitability of Mars evolved as this region became enriched in sulfates –minerals that likely formed in salty water that was evaporating as Mars first began drying up billions of years ago. The latest sample was collected from a target nicknamed “ Sequoia” (all of the mission’s current science targets are named after locations in California’s Sierra Nevada). 17, 2023, the 3,980th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Curiosity Views 'Sequoia' Using Its Mastcam: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used the drill on the end of its robotic arm to collect a sample from a rock nicknamed “Sequoia” on Oct.
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