NASA’s Curiosity spacecraft captures stunning video footage of Martian landscape during solar-Martian conjunction

Written by Amira Shehata Sunday, December 31, 2023 10:00 PM NASA’s Curiosity spacecraft revealed images from dawn to dusk on… Planet Marswhere she filmed a black and white video during the 4002nd Martian day of her mission, and the Martian day is slightly longer than the 24-hour Earth day.

According to what was reported by the “Space” website, during these periods, called solar-Martian conjunction, ground control operators stop sending messages to robots on the red planet because solar plasma can interfere with these commands, so the rover remained isolated for two weeks, during the period From 11 to 25 November, with her last instructions to start photographing her surroundings using her two HazCams.

These cameras are typically used to identify rocks, cliffs, and other hazards that could be dangerous for Curiosity to traverse.

The rover then captured a 12-hour segment of footage collected over 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds of a Martian day, between 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

The Curiosity ground team had hoped to see Martian clouds or dust blowing across the Red Planet’s surface in the 25-frame videos, but noticeable weather was absent from the footage.

The video shows a valley carved into Aeolis Mons, the 3-mile (5-kilometer) mountain in the Red Planet’s Gale Crater, where Curiosity has been exploring the area since landing in 2012 and is still healthy.