Landing DataUnderground water in the Gale Cater created by a impact, seeped into building a lake into which sediment layers accumulated. Later, wind blew material into which buried the sediments once the watery episode at Mars over as it then blew some material off near the rims, having parts of layers back to air. As the weight of the wind-blown material alleviated, the sediments craked as still existing underground water came to modify, yielding the current landscape in the Gale Crater. All that occurred before 3 billion years ago
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 | Curiosity rover and its parachute as spotted during descent by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as the rover is descending toward the etched plains just North of the sand dunes that fringe Mt. Sharp inside Gale Crater. The right part of the picture might look blurred as it is just due to that we cut a part of it, where a print was leading to a inset view. Such a picture is likely a premiere in terms of landing of a planetary mission. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona |
 | Gale Crater, where the rover Curiosity of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will land in August 2012, contains a mountain rising from the crater floor which is not a rebound peak, which is called Mount Sharp or Aeolis Mons. This oblique view is looking toward the southeast. We suppressed the original two-fold vertical exaggeration to back a more regular view of the area. Curiosity's landing site is on the crater floor northeast of the mountain, left of the picture. The crater's diameter is 96 miles (154 kilometers). picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' |
 | This is the site of where rover Curiosity landed, with the green diamond approximately where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars, a region about 1.2 mile (2 kilometers) northeast of its target in the center of the estimated landing region (blue ellipse). picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech |
 | That image shows part of rover Curiosity rover as the rim of Gale Crater is the remarkable band across the horizon, at the top of the picture. picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech |
 | A larger view is showing rover Curiosity on that black-and-white picture with Mount Sharp left as the rim of Gale Crater is seen top right. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' |
 | Here is a natural color view of the Bradbury Landing area. Parts of rover Curiosity are seen as Mount Sharp is seen at top center and the rim of Gale Crater either side. Effects of the descent stage's rocket engines blasting the ground can be seen on the left and right side of the image, next to the rover. The soil of the area have been assessed basaltic as bed outrocks seen along the slopes of the central mound likely will be centers of interest. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' |
 | That telephoto image is showing a scene of eroded knobs and gulches on a mountainside, with geological layering clearly exposed with are located on the lower slope of nearby Mount Sharp. This is a area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go. A dark dune field is between the layers and the rover. The rocks seen in that landscape suggest a rich geological site . picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' |
Curiosity's initial experiments are showing the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii. The Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) uses X-ray diffraction, the standard practice for geologists on Earth using much larger laboratory instruments. Significant amounts of feldspar, pyroxene and olivine have been found in Martian soil as roughly half the soil is non-crystalline material, such as volcanic glass or products from weathering of the glass. In terms of Gale Crater more specifically, the materials analyzed are consistent with that ancient rocks, such as the conglomerates, suggest flowing water, while the minerals in the younger soil are consistent with limited interaction with water. Extant too in the environment dust distributed globally in dust storms. Curiosity then turned to Martian atmospheric conditions. It identified transient whirlwinds -which are weaker than at other regions at Mars, mapped winds in relation to slopes, tracked daily and seasonal changes in air pressure, and linked rhythmic changes in radiation to daily atmospheric changes. A model of the winds supposed to blow in Gale Crater are showing that, by midday conditions, winds rise out of the crater and up the mountain. The patterns reverse in the evening and overnight, when winds flow in the downhill direction. If air movement up and down the mountain's slope governed wind direction, dominant winds generally would be North-South. However, East-West winds appear to predominate. The rim of Gale Crater may be a factor
 | A alluvial fan, or fan-shaped deposit have been determined by Curiosity hinting to water flowing downslope, at least occasionally (over a long duration of time). Higher elevations are colored in red, with cooler colors indicating transitions downslope to lower elevations. The black oval indicates the targeted landing area for the rover known as the 'landing ellipse,' and the cross shows where the rover actually landed. This is the first time a water-related channel is really seen at Mars. A channel named Peace Vallis feeds into the alluvial fan. Gravels in conglomerates range in size from a grain of sand to a golf ball. Some are angular, but many are rounded. Clay and sulfate minerals can be good preservers of carbon-based organic chemicals that are potential ingredients for life and a long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Uof |
 | This image shows a scoop full of sand and dust lifted by the rover's first use of the scoop on its robotic arm. For scale, the scoop is 1.8 inches (4.5 centimeters) wide, 2.8 inches (7 centimeters) long. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS |
 | The overall increase in pressure between Sol 31 and Sol 93 in Gale Crater is the signature of the entire Martian atmosphere growing in mass as we move into springtime in the southern hemisphere. This happens because the south pole receives more and more sunlight, and carbon dioxide vaporizes off of the winter south polar cap. Each year the atmosphere grows and shrinks by about 30 percent due to this effect. Another, daily cycle in pressure is caused by a 'thermal tide,' a global-scale pressure wave in Mars' atmosphere driven by sunlight heating the ground and air. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/CAB(CSIC-INTA)/FMI/Ashima Research |
 | As pressure increases, the total radiation dose decreases as when the atmosphere is thicker, it provides a better barrier against radiation from outside of Mars. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/ SwRI |
 | Radiation levels at the Martian surface appear to be roughly similar to those experienced by astronauts in low-Earth orbit. Longer-term variations appear to be driven by the structure of the gas and plasma in the interplanetary space near Mars, or the heliosphere which vary with a 27-day cycle as the heliosphere rotates with the Sun. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/ SwRI |
 | Mars' 'thermal tide,' is a weather phenomenon responsible for large, daily variations in pressure at the Martian surface. Sunlight heats the surface and atmosphere on the day side of the planet, causing air to expand upwards. At higher levels in the atmosphere, this bulge of air then expands outward, to the sides, in order to equalize the pressure around it, as shown by the red arrows. Air flows out of the bulge, lowering the pressure of air felt at the surface below the bulge. The result is a deeper atmosphere, but less dense than that on the night side. As Mars rotates, this bulge moves across the planet each day, from East to West. Precise timing of the increase and decrease are affected by the time it takes the atmosphere to respond to the sunlight, as well as a number of other factors including the shape of the planet's surface and the amount of dust in the atmosphere. Thermal tide also impacts radiation level at the surface. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ashima Research/SWRI |
 | A variety of soils have been found at diverse landing sites on Mars. The elemental composition of the typical, reddish soils however showed that the soil is similar at all landing sites. In addition, the soil was usually unchanged over the traverse across the Martian terrain made by both Twin Rovers. In Gusev Crater, several white subsurface deposits were excavated with Spirit’s wheels and found to be either silica-rich or hydrated ferric sulfates (images from top left to bottom right: soil at Spirit's landing region in Gusev Crater, idem, soil at one of Viking's landing sites, soil at Gale Crater). picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech |
 | The similitude of elemental composition of typical soils at three landing regions on Mars: Gusev Crater, Meridiani Planum and Gale Crater is shown on that diagram. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Guelph |
 | A complex chemistry has been found within the Martian soil. Water and sulfur and chlorine-containing substances, among other ingredients, showed up. Gases were analysed by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite and the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) as soil had been heated in a tiny oven. No organics however have been detected at that point. The composition of a older drift of sand with a crust covering a darker material, is about half common volcanic minerals and half non-crystalline materials such as glass. A quantity of water molecules bound to grains of sand or dust was higher than anticipated. Oxygen and chlorine compound perchlorates were also found, a reactive chemical previously found in arctic Martian soil by NASA's Phoenix Lander. picture courtesy NASA |
 | A further analysis first ever measured the deuterium to hydrogen ratio at Mars. Deuterium is a heavier version of the hydrogen atom. That allows to study how its atmosphere has changed over time. Mars, which has less gravity than Earth and lacks a strong enough magnetic field to shield its atmosphere from the Sun, is slowly losing its atmosphere. As this process occurs, the lighter hydrogen atoms are preferentially lost compared to the heavier deuterium ones. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC |
 | Close-up views of sands from a wind drift as examined by Curiosity. Left view is 0.75 by 0.87 inches (1.9 by 2.2 cm) and shows some of the variety of coarse sand grains. Sands of Mars are not necessarily red as translucent grains, gray sand and white sand, in addition to two blue-gray glassy spheres and a glassy ellipsoid are seen. The spherical and ellipsoidal grains were likely formed from molten droplets that cooled above the Martian surface to form glass, either during an explosive volcanic eruption or an impact cratering event. The larger glassy sphere is 0.026 inches (655 micrometers) in diameter. Right view shows a magnified view of the fraction of smaller sand grains examined by Curiosity through its CHIMRA (Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis) sieving system. Only grains smaller than 0.006 inches (150 micrometers) passed through the sieves. The image shown here covers just 0.26 by 0.30 inches (6.5 by 7.6 millimeters). Many of these fine sand grains are angular pieces of crystalline minerals. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS |
 | Here is a view of the first sample ever collected from the interior of a rock on another planet, with the transfer of the powdered-rock sample into an open scoop. Rover Curiosity drilled into a fine-grained, veiny sedimentary rock because it may hold evidence of wet environmental conditions long ago. The sample was taken from a 2.5-inch (6.4-centimeter) hole into target on Feb. 8, 2013. During the next steps of processing, the powder will be enclosed inside CHIMRA and shaken once or twice over a sieve that screens out particles larger than 0.006 inch (150 microns) across. Small portions of the sieved sample later will be delivered through inlet ports on top of the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. During information gained during testing at JPL, the processing and delivery plan has been adjusted to reduce use of mechanical vibration to avoid any damage to Curiosity's tools. A sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon composition, some of the key chemical ingredients for life, found in the drill could have constitute conditions supporting living microbes. Area explored was the end of an ancient river system or an intermittently wet lake bed that could have provided chemical energy and other favorable conditions for microbes. The rock is made up of a fine grain mudstone as the environment was not harshly oxidizing, acidic, or extremely salty like evidenced through the presence of calcium sulfate revealing a neutral or mildly alkaline soil. Multiple periods of wet conditions have been spotted. The sedimentary rocks likely formed when original basaltic rocks were broken into fragments, transported, re-deposited as sedimentary particles, and mineralogically altered by exposure to water like covered with a layer of sulfur. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS |
A light variant of the gas argon relatively depleted in Martian air confirmed a longstanding belief that the Red Planet's current atmosphere is a meager shell of its former self as lighter atoms and molecules escaped more easily than heavier ones. Humidity has also been seen varying from place to place along the robot's route inside Mars' huge Gale Crater, a first systematic measurements of humidity on the Martian surface. What is left from the atmosphere is quite active. Daily air temperature has climbed steadily since the measurements began eight months ago as trails of dust devils have not been seen inside Gale Crater but many whirlwind patterns have been detected, a very quick event of a few seconds. Daily minimum and maximum of air temperature around the rover results in a quite steady diagram, with daily highs at about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) and lows at about minus 94 Fahrenheit (minus 70 Celsius). The thermal quality of the terrain where the rover is taking its measurements also plays a role in the rapidity of the cooling off or warming up. The rover landed at about the time of the annual minimum in atmospheric pressure, or late winter of the southern hemisphere and documented a seasonal climb to a pressure peak attained by about late February 2013, or the end of southern spring. The overall increase is the signature of the entire Martian atmosphere growing in mass through the southern-hemisphere spring because the south pole receives more and more sunlight, and carbon dioxide vaporizes off of the winter south polar cap. The pressure then will begin to decline as carbon dioxide freezes out of the atmosphere in the north, forming the winter north polar cap. Analysis of rocks on the site suggest the presence of hydrated minerals, carbonates, perchlorates, sulfates and sulfides, and clays. Roundness of stones from the size of sand particles to the size of golf balls found at a site was shaped by a fast-flowing stream that probably was ankle to waist-deep as the stream carried the gravel at least a few miles. Curiosity, above all, after one year at Mars, Curiosity found that Martian soil contains about 2 percent water by weight as Martian dirt is acting like a sponge and absorbing water from the atmosphere. Soil water is rich in deuterium which matches Mars' air. Martian soil is also rich in carbon-containing chemicals, or the building blocks of life, which likely originate from organics which manage to reach Mars from Earth and reacted with chlorine atoms released from toxic perchlorate. Evidence of water again was found at Mars, with Curiosity having detected remains of a ancient lakebed which harboured slightly salty liquid water about 3.7 billion years ago. Sulfur, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen also were found at that location, hinting to a medium conducive to life. With a flight software upgrade to version 11 by late 2013, Curiosity received three such upgrades since it landed at Mars as the switch to version 11 took about one week. Such upgrades allow continued advances in the rover's capabilities. Flight engineers also noted at that time that wear of the rover's wheels appeared to have accelerated, correlated with driving over rougher terrain or areas with numerous sharp rocks embedded in the ground
 | A diagram of the daily minimum and maximum of air and ground temperature during rover Curiosity's first 200 Martian days at Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech/CAB(CSIC-INTA)/FMI/Ashima Research |
A ancient lake inside Gale Crater billions of years ago as the water flowed from the crater rim into the basin. The water would have pooled in the linear depression created between the crater rim and Mt. Sharp. The area's history likely included the coming and going of multiple lakes of different sizes as climate conditions evolved. Curiosity, by early 2014, temporarily adopted a reverse-drive mode, a technique tested on Earth to lessen damage to the rover's wheels when driving over terrain studded with sharp rocks (wheel damage, generally, prompted a slow-down in driving since late in 2013, with adjusted routes and driving methods to reduce the rate of damage). By September 2014, NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has reached the Red Planet's Mount Sharp, a Mount-Rainier-size mountain at the center of the vast Gale Crater and the rover mission's long-term prime destination. Curiosity’s trek up the mountain will begin with an examination of the mountain's lower slopes along a boundary where the southern base layer of the mountain meets crater-floor deposits washed down from the crater’s northern rim. Studies by late 2014 of Gusev's Mount Sharp show it was built by sediments deposited in a large lake bed over tens of millions of years. Alternating lake, river and wind deposits show repeated filling and evaporation of a Martian lake. Mount Sharp, generally, likely is due to that the Gale crater filled to a height of at least a few hundred yards and the sediments hardened into rock, and the accumulated layers of sediment were sculpted over time into a mountainous shape by wind erosion that carved away the material between the crater perimeter and what is now the edge of the mountain. Curiosity also discovered, by 2014, that the ancient environment of the Gale Crater offered a supply of reduced organic molecules for use as building blocks for life and an energy source for life. At 3.8 billion years ago, when life began at Earth, places at Mars offered the same environment, with liquid water, a warm environment, and organic matter. Curiosity finally accomplished its main goal when it found and examined a ancient habitable environment. In an extended mission, the rover is examining successively younger layers as it climbs the lower part of Mount Sharp. A key goal is to learn how freshwater lake conditions, which would have been favorable for microbes billions of years ago evolved into arid conditions. There likely exists too at Mars a buried cryosphere accounting for a large part of the planet's initial water budget. Subsurface ice and ground-ice melting brought to a rapid loss of hydrogen to space and the sublimation from a widespread ice layer
Since the summer of 2015, Curiosity Mars rover is driving toward the southwest after departing a region where is spent several weeks in studies. Curiosity has confirmed by October 2015, from layers of sediments observed, that Mars was once, billions of years ago, capable of storing water in lakes over an extended period of time, like what occurred inside the Gale Crater. Such lakes possibly repeatedly expanded and contracted during hundreds to millions of years. Later history of Mars may have been dominated by dry, wind-driven deposits. Flowing water necessitated a thicker atmosphere and warmer climate but, however, current models of this paleoclimate do not match
 | This view inside the Gale Crater is showing what the Martian landscapes are looking like! picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon a picture NASA |
 | This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in mid-November 2015, approaching examples of dunes in the "Bagnold Dunes" dune field. North is up. The scale bar at lower right represents 1.2 miles (two kilometers) picture courtesy NASA |
 | Those dramatic views are providing for the first up-close study ever conducted of extraterrestrial sand dunes. The view was taken by rover Curiosity on Dec. 18, 2015 as it was nearing a dunes field inside the Gale Crater, at Mars. What is seen is a view of a dune's, downwind, steep face, where cascading sand has sculpted miscellaneous textures. Shapes at center are rover's structures picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS |
Inside the Gale Crater near the equator, Curiosity could spot cycles of varied weather elements along the 637-Earth day Martian year, or a Martian day -a 'sol'- lasting about 39.6 minutes longer than its earthly counterpart. Due to the thin Martian atmosphere, the daily temperature gradient is tall, at rising above freezing by daytime but plummeting overnight minus 130°F (minus 90°C). Local atmosphere is clear in winter, dustier in spring and summer, and windy in autumn. Visibility in Gale Crater is as low as 20 miles (30 kilometers) in summer, and as high as 80 miles (130 kilometers) in winter. During winter nights, relative humidity may reach up to 70 percent, high enough to form frost on the ground. Millions of tons of carbon dioxyde are trapped at polar caps each winter and released in spring, prompting very un-Earthlike seasonal variations of about 25 percent in atmospheric pressure
The Gale Crater was born when the impact of an asteroid or comet more than 3.6 billion years ago excavated a basin nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) wide. Sediments including rocks, sand and silt later filled the basin, some delivered by rivers that flowed in from higher ground surrounding Gale. A turning point in Gale's history occurred when net accumulation of sediments flipped to net removal by wind erosion as that might have coincided with Mars turning drier. About 15,000 cubic miles (64,000 cubic kilometers) of material nevertheless was removed by winds!A wide diversity of minerals in the lowermost layers of Mount Sharp suggests that conditions changed in the water environments on the planet over time. Early Mars about 3.5 billion years ago, may have been similar to early Earth, and so these environments might have been habitable. Such that divertisy might also have been only due to that the area dried
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 | That view is showing the Gale Crater' rim under different lighting than usual picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon a picture NASA |
 | Curiosity Mars rover imaged both Martian satellites Phobos (left) and Deimos (right) as they transited in front of Sun on on March 26, and March 17, 2019 respectively. As Phobos' shadow passed over the rover during sunset, it momentarily darkened the light at Mars. 8 Deimos eclipsing the Sun and 40 from Phobos have been observed by either Martian missions Spirit, Opportunity or Curiosity pictures courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon pictures NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS |
 | drifting clouds on May 12, 2019 pictures courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon pictures NASA/JPL-Caltech |
 | drifting clouds on May 7, 2019 pictures courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' based upon pictures NASA/JPL-Caltech |
