NASA has discharge several “ postcards ” sent home by Curiosity to denounce its 8th anniversary since it landed to explore the Red Planet .
Since touching down inGale Crateron August 5 , 2012 , the rover has been search Mars ’s moth-eaten airfoil and taking samples in its quest to discover if the major planet has ever had the good conditions to support microbial life .
In its 8 years , the motorcar - sized rover has seen a mountain , trundling more than 23 kilometers ( 14 miles ) across the satellite ’s rocky , flaxen open , digging 26 mess , and shoot six soil samples that its team back home at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have revealed demo ancient Mars was indeed suitable for life-time .
Curiosity ’s advanced suite of tools includes 17 camera , all the undecomposed for institutionalize backsnapshots and selfiesthat reveal what life on Mars currently looks like for the only satellite ( we know of ) inhabited exclusively by golem . NASA has selected eight photos and panoramas Curiosity has sent home over the years to note an incredible 8 old age .
As this self - portrait above , take on June 15 , 2018 ( or sol 2082 ) , display , fieldwork can be unsportsmanlike workplace . The rover was at the " Duluth " exercise site north of the Vera Rubin Ridge in Gale Crater during adust tempest that enshrouded Marsat the time . you could see the drill maw in the John Rock to the left hand of the wanderer and the discard drill material on the primer coat as a little orange streak in front of it . Selfies are taken to catch the landscape painting each sample is ask from .
Mount Sharp
Curiosity may be in a crater , but when it face up this is what it sees . Mount Sharpis actually in Gale Grater , and though Curiosity will never get to its peak , it ’s been exploring the fundament of the 5 - kilometre - high ( 3 miles ) mountain and what the rock layers can tell us about how Mars ’s climate change over time .
" I love this image because it tells two narration – one about the delegation and one about Mars,“saidAshwin Vasavada , Curiosity ’s labor scientist at JPL . " The crater flange and flooring where we started at eight years ago peek in from the left , while spread out before us is the hereafter as Curiosity mount higher on the mountain . "
Look how far we ’ve amount
This prototype , taken by Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp , shows the rocky landscape in astonishing item . The lilliputian arrow , however , shows more or less where Curiosity is as of July 30 , 2020 , 5.5 kilometers ( 3.5 knot ) forth , 6 years afterward . You may not guess that is an telling distance for 6 year of travel , but Curiosity only travels at 0.14 klick ( 0.09 miles ) an hour , and have you seen that terrain ?
Stop and look around
Thispanoramic viewof the trading floor of Gale Crater was convey in January 2018 when Curiosity rise the Vera Rubin Ridge . It was Martian winter and the sky cleared to expose this spectacular purview . you could even see a hill that is n’t in the crater 80 kilometers ( 50 miles ) away . It was the first time scientists could look back at Curiosity ’s entire journey and see everywhere it had been so far . In the television , Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada gives a spell of the piazza visit along the fashion .
" Spaghetti Western "
This broad panorama was lead back on December 19 , 2019 , on sol 2,620 of the mission . NASA scientist call it a Spaghetti westerly landscape on Mars because part of the Martian desert resemble the American Southwest . The shot sport 130 images sew together and slightly livid - balanced so the color of the rocks appear how they would in daylight on Earth precondition .
Dune 2020
This awesome image shows two different type ofrippling sand dunes , one type not seen on Earth . take at Namib Dune on December 13 , 2015 , it register two sizes of ripples grave by the twist . The small eccentric exist on Earth , but the turgid type , around 3 time ( 10 feet ) apart , only occurs on Mars because of its slender atmosphere .
swarm spotting
curio does n’t pass all its time staring at the ground , it also studies the Martian atmosphere . The line on Mars is only 1 percent as heavy as on Earth , and there is little water , but water - swarm do at times form . These cloud , which likely make from water - ice , were snapped about 31 kilometers ( 19 nautical mile ) above the footing in May last year .
Life ’s a beach , dig a trap
Curiosity has dug 26 holes so far , collecting sampleswith its robotic subdivision . The function on the odd shows where the holes were practice on the rover ’s route , include where it outdo up six soil samples . Curiosity wo n’t be sending any sample back to Earth . It take apart sample where it is and sends the information digitally to the team at JPL . Perseverance , NASA ’s newfangled rovercurrently on its way to Mars , will be post sample distribution home , and if we ’re prosperous we should get them by 2031 .
