Curiosity Rover Reaches Uyuni Quad, Begins New Mars Mapping and Surface Analysis Campaign

NASA’s Curiosity rover has just lately begun a brand new chapter in its journey on Mars after getting into the “Uyuni” quadrangle, a 1.5 km by 1.5 km map grid with a reputation after the Bolivian city close to the world’s largest salt flats. The transition follows after the rover carried out an roughly 48-metre drive from the Altadena drill web site. With new geology to discover and an expanded set of experiments, Curiosity’s journey by way of this area has the potential to return recent observations into Mars’ historic environmental situations.

Curiosity Explores Mars’ Uyuni Quad, Begins New Study of Rock Layers, Craters, and Ancient Climates

As per a mission replace from Lauren Edgar, planetary geologist on the USGS Astrogeology Science Centre, the transition to the Uyuni quad is important. Each Mars quadrangle is known as after an Earth location with below 100,000 folks and attracts on regional geology for goal naming. Uyuni and close by Atacama websites—identified for Mars analogue analysis and excessive environments—will now lend their names to the options explored on this part. The present sol plan entails a mix of contact science, visible imaging, and motion, all tailor-made to grasp the bedrock composition and floor processes on this drier area of Mount Sharp.

The rover’s robotic arm will deploy its APXS and MAHLI instruments to check a nodular bedrock goal dubbed “Flamingo”. Remote sensing contains Mastcam mosaics of “Los Patos”, a attainable influence crater, and “La Lava”, a darkish rock. These photographs will doc sediment transport options and inform ChemCam’s upcoming LIBS firing at a bedrock spot named “Tacos”. An extended-distance RMI mosaic of “Mishe Mokwa” butte will additional analyse sediment layers.

Following the science block, Curiosity will journey roughly 56 metres southwest and accumulate post-drive imagery to tell the following sol plan. The subsequent day shall be devoted to calibration and environmental monitoring actions by way of Mastcam and Navcam, significantly targeted on mud and cloud motion within the Martian ambiance.

Researchers are keen to check what these formations can reveal of previous Martian climates because the group works towards bigger boxwork exposures. The Uyuni quad will carry collectively distant worlds by way of a widespread geological story utilizing names and formations based mostly on our personal geologic brethren on Earth.