Presently within the twelfth yr of its mission, NASA’s Curiosity rover continues to press on whereas treading the world of Mars, delving into areas no rover has gone earlier than. The most recent section of Curiosity’s journey has introduced it to what some scientists imagine is the desiccated mattress of an historical river.
As Curiosity prepares to comply with Gediz Vallis, as scientists name this winding and boulder-choked channel, it can attempt to give scientists a glance again by means of time to allow them to uncover how the landform got here to be within the first place
Initially slated for a two-year-mission, Curiosity continues to trawl the Martian floor in the hunt for new perception into the Martian setting and life which may have as soon as lived — or nonetheless lives — on the Crimson Planet. Since 2014, the rover has been ascending the foothills of Mount Sharp, which rises 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the rover’s authentic touchdown website in Gale Crater.
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Gediz Vallis snakes by means of Mount Sharp. Billions of years in the past, the mountain — as with the remainder of Mars — would have been considerably wetter than it’s right this moment. Over time, as Mars dried up, wind and remnant water eroded the mountain into the layers Curiosity can see right this moment. Scientists imagine some drive of Martin nature carved the Gedis Vallis channel into Crimson Planet slopes throughout this drying time.
It is attainable that wind created Gediz Vallis — nonetheless, the channel’s sides are steeper than scientists would anticipate from a wind-carved vale. Thus, it is attainable the channel is the work of landslides stemming from additional up the mountain, which could have deposited boulders and different rocky particles that Curiosity noticed filling Gediz Vallis’ ground. Or, maybe extra enticingly, it is attainable Gediz Vallis was fashioned by flowing liquid water.
“If the channel or the particles pile had been fashioned by liquid water, that is actually attention-grabbing. It might imply that pretty late within the story of Mount Sharp — after an extended dry interval — water got here again, and in a giant approach,” mentioned Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s venture scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in an announcement.
Curiosity will spend months exploring the channel, taking a look at extra than simply the Martian previous. The rover would not have the potential to summit Mount Sharp, so trying up from the channel is one of the simplest ways it may assist scientists study extra about what lies up there.