NASA has just shared one of its most impressive Mars panoramas to date. Captured by its trusty Curiosity rover, the panorama (below) of the Martian landscape comprises 44 images taken by the rover’s Mastcam. The color has been adjusted to match the lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth.
Curiosity captured the images during its ongoing climb of Mount Sharp, with the final panorama showing the rim of Gale Crater as well as the distant landscape.
The clip shared by NASA helpfully points out the part of the crater’s rim, as well as an ancient river channel and a mountain estimated to be 57 miles (91 km) away. It also points out smaller craters and dunes.
NASA said the conditions were “exceptionally clear” at the time of Curiosity’s capture, which took place toward the end of last month.
“Dust in the air is at its lowest during Martian winter, providing Curiosity its best views all the way across the yawning crater floor from the rover’s perch in the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3.1-mile-tall (5-km-tall) mountain roughly 22 miles (35 km) from the crater rim,” NASA said.
Gale Crater is believed to have been created by a massive impact event when a comet or asteroid smashed into the Martian surface billions of years ago. The crater is about 96 miles (154 km) in diameter and around 2.8 miles (4.5 km) deep at its most extreme point, making it one of the larger craters on Mars.
Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and reached Mars in 2012. Ever since then, the rover has been exploring the Martian surface to try to determine if Mars ever had the environmental conditions that could support microbial life. The rover successfully achieved its goal by confirming that Gale Crater once contained a lake that could have hosted life.
Curiosity’s mission has been so successful that NASA expanded its objectives to include studying Mars’ climate evolution and preparing for future human exploration.
In 2021, Curiosity was joined by another NASA rover, Perseverance, although the two are around 2,330 miles (3,750 km) apart and so won’t be meeting up to exchange notes anytime soon.
