Curiosity Logs 4,000th Day on Mars Written 7 November 2023
#/media/File:Curiosity_Self-Portrait_at_'Big_Sky'_Drilling_Site.jpg "Curiosity-Rover-Mars-250-NASA")
Self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. | Credit: NASA; Wikipedia; Public Domain
Phys (UK) reports that four thousand Martian days “after setting its wheels in Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover remains busy conducting exciting science.” The rover recently “drilled its 39th sample, then dropped the pulverized rock into its belly for detailed analysis.” To study “whether ancient Mars had the conditions to support microbial life, the rover has been gradually ascending the base of 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) Mount Sharp, whose layers formed in different periods of Martian history and offer a record of how the planet’s climate changed over time.”
Full Story (Phys)