SPACE — NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity experienced some downtime during November due to a solar conjunction. However, the robot did not just sit still. It captured stunning footage from dawn to dusk on the Red Planet.
Marking its 4,002nd Mars day or sol mission on November 8, Curiosity recorded two black-and-white videos. One sol is slightly longer than 24 hours or a day on Earth.
During the downtime due to Mars’ solar conjunction, ground control operators stopped sending messages to robots on the Red Planet. This is because solar plasma can interfere with these commands even though the mission is still sending current conditions to Earth.
Also read: NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Compounds on Mars, Signs of Life?
The Mars fleet was unable to communicate with Earth in total for two weeks, from November 11 to 25. However, before that date, Curiosity received final instructions to record its surroundings with two HazCams.
During this time, the camera is used to identify the location of rocks, slopes and other hazards that may be at risk in front of Curiosity’s path. However, when he was temporarily stopped, the cameras were used for other purposes.
The recording, which consists of many photos, is up to 12 hours long. The image was collected during 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds of the Martian day, between 05.30 and 17.30 local time. Curiosity’s shadow is seen hovering above the surface of Mars, which could mark the movement of the sun there.
Curiosity’s ground team hopes to see Martian clouds or dust devils blowing across the Red Planet’s surface in the 25-frame video. But it’s not in the recording.
The video shows a valley carved into Mount Sharp or Aeolis Mons. It is a 5 kilometer long mountain in the Gale Crater region of the Red Planet. Curiosity has been exploring the region since landing in 2012, so it’s good that it’s still in good health. Source: Space.com
2023-12-31 13:00:00
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