NASA Shares Pic Of Earth-Like Clouds On Mars, Captured By Curiosity Rover
The Curiosity Mars rover used its drill to capture a sample of rock near the formation which the scientists dubbed Nontron--the missions 30th sample to date. Researchers are particularly interested in this region since it represents a transition in the rocks from a clay-rich area to a sulfate- rich area.
NASA's recently landed Perseverance rover on Mars may be hogging the headlines, but the long-lived Curiosity rover is still having a great time out there on the Red Planet.
The gritty old wanderer looks sharp in a selfie taken with a beautiful Martian rock outcrop nicknamed "Mont Mercou" after a mountain in France.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Standing about 20 feet (6 meters) tall, the intriguing rock formation is captured in all its grandiose in the new selfie and a pair of panoramas that offer a 3D view.
The Curiosity Mars rover used its drill to capture a sample of rock near the formation, which the scientists dubbed ¡®Nontron¡¯--the mission¡¯s 30th sample to date.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Researchers are particularly interested in this region since it represents a transition in the rocks from a clay-rich area to a sulfate-rich area, which might offer a clue as to what caused Mars to shift from a potentially habitable planet billions of years ago to the frozen desert we see today.
Earth-like clouds snapped on Mars
The Curiosity rover also glanced up to capture an image of clouds on Mars, taken using its right navigation camera. It looks breathtaking and eerily similar to the clouds seen here on Earth. And that got Twitter buzzing.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
"The clouds consist of water ice condensed on reddish dust particles suspended in the atmosphere. Clouds on Mars are sometimes localized and can sometimes cover entire regions, but have not yet been observed to cover the entire planet."https://t.co/lWpCbfPqyP
¡ª Samirah ? (@ShaZoo00oo) March 30, 2021
And then the NASA Mars Curiosity rover took it upon herself to answer those ¡®curious¡¯ folks who just seemed to have one question--and yes, that was about water in Mars' atmosphere.
The clouds are made from either water ice or carbon dioxide ice, but not liquid water droplets. In some cases, I see clouds at multiple elevations and of both compositions.
¡ª Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) March 30, 2021
The Martian atmosphere has water-ice clouds for most of the year. Clouds in the equatorial region between about 6 to 19 miles (10 to 30 kilometers) above the surface of Mars absorb infrared light emitted from the surface during daytime. https://t.co/j5rmiFfpVw
¡ª Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) March 30, 2021
We think of Mars as a cold and dry world with little water, but there is actually more water vapor in the Martian atmosphere than in the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere. The Martian atmosphere has water-ice clouds for most of the year.
¡ª Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) March 30, 2021
I'm by the equator. We're at the beginning of Gale crater¡¯s cloudy season and in the middle of a period where the potential for the formation of twilight clouds is higher than usual. My team on Earth are taking advantage of this to observe and analyze clouds and cloud formations.
¡ª Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) March 30, 2021
Last week, Dr. Paul Byrne from North Carolina State University shared a stunning gif of Earth-like clouds on Mars, which was a set of eight images shot by Curiosity's navigation cameras, spanning a period of about five minutes.
Clouds in the sky, gently passing overhead.
¡ª Prof. Paul Byrne (@ThePlanetaryGuy) March 20, 2021
On Mars, Friday, March 19, 2021. pic.twitter.com/jJpemPefIV
Curiosity was the only active rover on Mars until the Perseverance touched the surface earlier this year on February 18. Both of them are located about 2,300 miles apart on Mars and are exploring very different areas.
Perseverance will search for signs of ancient microbial life in the dry lake bed and river delta of Jezero Crater while Curiosity has been steadily climbing the 3-mile-high Mount Sharp, located at the center of Gale Crater, since 2014.
