Curiosity s Dusty Self
Explanation:
Winds on Mars
can't actually blow spacecraft over.
But in the low gravity, martian winds can loft fine dust
particles in planet-wide storms,
like the dust storm now
raging on the
Red Planet.
From the martian surface on sol 2082 (June 15),
this
self-portrait from the Curiosity rover shows the effects of
the dust storm,
reducing sunlight and visibility at the rover's location in Gale crater.
Made with the Mars Hand Lens Imager, its mechanical arm is edited out
of the mosaicked images.
Curiosity's recent drill site
Duluth
can be seen on the rock
just in front of the rover on the left.
The east-northeast Gale crater rim fading into the background is about
30 kilometers away.
Curiosity is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric
generator and
is expected to be unaffected by the increase in dust at Gale crater.
On the other side of Mars,
the solar-powered Opportunity rover
has ceased its operations due to the even more severe lack of sunlight
at its location on the west rim of Endeavour crater.
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.
