Presently within the twelfth 12 months 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 newest part 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 should attempt to give scientists a glance again via 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 quest of new perception into the Martian atmosphere and life that may have as soon as lived — or nonetheless lives — on the Pink 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 via Mount Sharp. Billions of years in the past, the mountain — as with the remainder of Mars — would have been considerably wetter than it’s in the present day. Over time, as Mars dried up, wind and remnant water eroded the mountain into the layers Curiosity can see in the present day. Scientists imagine some power of Martin nature carved the Gedis Vallis channel into Pink Planet slopes throughout this drying time.
It is doable that wind created Gediz Vallis — nonetheless, the channel’s sides are steeper than scientists would count on from a wind-carved vale. Thus, it is doable 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 doable Gediz Vallis was fashioned by flowing liquid water.
“If the channel or the particles pile have been fashioned by liquid water, that is actually fascinating. It might imply that pretty late within the story of Mount Sharp — after a protracted dry interval — water got here again, and in a giant means,” mentioned Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s undertaking scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in an announcement.
Curiosity will spend months exploring the channel, extra than simply the Martian previous. The rover would not have the aptitude to summit Mount Sharp, so wanting up from the channel is the easiest way it may assist scientists study extra about what lies up there.
