On November 8, 2023, what will you be doing? I can’t answer that for myself, but I can tell you what NASA’s Curiosity rover did: quietly sat on Mars for 4,002 days, taking photos of the Martian surface.
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Now, mission team members at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have combined two sets of images from the rover’s front and rear Hazcams to create a unique video that captures the passage of time on the Red Planet.
Hazcam, short for Hazard-Avoidance Cameras, is used by rover drivers to avoid the difficult Martian terrain, which is covered with rocks, slopes and other obstacles. However, the rover’s operations were canceled just before Mars’ solar conjunction, when solar activity could have disrupted radio communications between Earth and the rover.
During the time window between the suspension of rover operations and conjunction, the Curiosity team recorded 12 hours of images on both Hazcams. This 25-frame video records the view of Mars’ Gale Crater between 05.30 am and 05.30 pm local time on November 8 2023.
Front Hazcam view overlooking Gediz Vallis, a valley on 18,000-foot Mount Sharp. The rear Hazcam image overlooks the floor of Gale Crater from the slopes of Mount Sharp rising from the 96-mile-wide crater. Curiosity has taken a number of beautiful images of this mountainside, as well as interesting rock formations.
Curiosity’s 12-Hour View of Mars (Rear Hazcam)
Then, the camera exposure time was over a minute, which caused noise in the image that looked like snow. (We assure you, it’s not snowing on Mars.) About eight seconds into the Rear Hazcam view, a cosmic ray particle hit the camera sensor, causing a black spot in the image.
Other visual artifacts may be caused by Martian dust that stuck to the camera lens during Curiosity’s 11 years on the planet. Although the Hazcam view captured images of Mars in black-and-white, NASA also published many color images taken by Curiosity.
Curiosity continues to walk on the surface of Mars thanks to the hard work of NASA engineers. Earlier this year, the rover received its first significant software update since 2016, which is expected to increase driving speeds and reduce wear on the wheels, so the mission can continue for years to come.
More: Explore Mars in a Panoramic Video Tour with the Curiosity Rover
2023-12-28 23:43:23
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