Planets and Moons  ID: 11148

Road Trip

Story by Elizabeth Zubritsky Released on December 25, 2012
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The Curiosity rover checks out the sights on its first Mars adventure.
The Curiosity rover's main destination is Mount Sharp and its intriguing rock layers. But before heading there, the rover took a road trip east to check out Glenelg, an area where three types of Martian terrain come together. Along the way, Curiosity made several stops, especially at Rocknest, where it took its first sniffs of the Martian atmosphere and its first scoops of soil. After analyzing those samples, the rover was back on the move toward Point Lake, a spot near Glenelg where Curiosity will look for a place to try out its drill. Some highlights of the rover's trip are captured in the videos and these pictures, starting with Curiosity's view of the landing site as it neared touchdown.
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See the final descent from Curiosity's point of view and hear the mission control radio traffic as the rover touched down in Gale Crater.
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Inlet funnels open and close to take soil into the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite for analysis.
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After arriving at Bradbury Landing, Curiosity left the descent zone and drove east more than 1,700 feet toward Glenelg.
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Curiosity spotted this rock outcrop (left), where the rounded gravel fragments look like Earth's sedimentary rocks shaped by water (right).
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At Rocknest, Curiosity checked out this sand drift, shown under lighting conditions typical of Mars (left) and Earth (right).
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Curiosity lifts a scoop of powdery material for analysis (left), after leaving a "bite mark" in the Martian soil where the sample was taken.
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The rings in this X-ray analysis indicate that feldspar, pyroxene and olivine crystals were present in the soil sample.
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After finishing at Rocknest, Curiosity found this striking rock outcrop, now named Shaler, near Glenelg.

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Producer:
Dan Gallagher (USRA)

Lead Writer:
Elizabeth Zubritsky (ADNET)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
Landing video courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
SAM intake imagery courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity path image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Rocknest dune image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
Scoop close-up image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
X-ray analysis image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ames
Rock outcrop image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11148

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons