Published 02:23 IST, November 7th 2019
NASA's Curiosity rover captures bleak pictures of the Red Planet
New Photos of the barren land of the Red Planet released by the NASA Mars mission which was captured by the rover Curiosity on November 3 show mountain surface
- World News
- 3 min read
New Pictures released by the NASA Mars mission of the Red Planet were captured by the rover Curiosity. Now left alone on Mars, the rover was able to capture a series of haunting shots of the red planet’s barren land.
Images of Mars captured by Curiosity Rover
The Curiosity Rover landed on Mars in 2012, and since then has been exploring Mars', Gale Crater. The rover has captured several pictures of Mars while studying its rock profile and any signs of sustaining life. The picture captures is termed to be the Rocky Martian Prison. The rover is heading towards the slope of rock debris which is called 'Central Butte', located at the foot of Aeolis Mons, which is a mountain at Gale’s centre. The eerie pictures were captured by Curiosity's Right Navigation Camera also called the 'Sol 2573' by NASA experts on November 3.
Curiosity Rover looking for evidence to sustain life on the planet
In the pictures one can see as described by NASA, debris-strewn butte curves on the surface of the mountain, one can also see a series of hazy rock loons behind the mountain in the picture. According to NASA, the ridge created by the rocks forms the rim of Gale Crater and surrounding the rover in all directions for about 80 km. In another picture, one can see the photo taken from behind which makes the bleak horizon visible that the rover leaves behind once it starts climbing Mount Sharp from its base. The major objective of the lone rover is to discover evidence of whether Mars can sustain microbial life or not.
In the past, Curiosity rover did discover the presence of water on the planet along with the traces of elements like hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon which can support life on the planet.
InSight Digs again
Raising massive outer space joy, NASA's InSight lander's probe on Mars, on October 17, has used its robotic arm (mole) to dig nearly 2 centimetres (3/4 of an inch) over the past week, announced NASA. The mole is reportedly designed to dig as much as 16 feet (5 meters) underground to gauge the heat escaping from the planet's interior. But, unfortunately, it has only managed to partially bury itself since it started hammering in February 2019.
Updated 02:23 IST, November 7th 2019