Curiosity Rover at Rocknest on Mars
Explanation:
What's in this smooth soil on Mars?
In late October, NASA's robotic
Curiosity rover stopped near a place dubbed
Rocknest as it continues to explore
Gale Crater
on Mars.
Rocknest is the group of stones seen near the top left of the
above image -- just
to the left of
Curiosity's
mast.
Of particular interest was the unusually smooth patch of soil named Wind Drift seen
to the left of Curiosity, which was likely created by the
Martian wind
blowing fine particles into Rocknest's wake.
The
above image shows
part of
Mt. Sharp in the background to upper right,
and, oddly, almost the entire rover itself, digitally reconstructed from 55 frames
while digitally removing an extended arm.
Curiosity scooped several
sand samples from Wind Drift into its
Chemistry and Mineralogy Experiment
(CheMin) and the
Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory
for a detailed analysis.
Preliminary data from the soil indicates a small amount of one-carbon
organic material the origin of which it presently unknown.
Although the
organic signal might be just contaminants from Earth,
the exciting possibility that it could be from Mars itself will remain a focus of
future exploration and research.
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
