Events
NASA's Curiosity rover celebrated its anniversary on the Red Planet. His epic landing took place on August 6, 2012, and since then he has made many important scientific discoveries.
During the year, Curiosity sent 190 gigabits of data, took more than 71,000 images, sent more than 75,000 laser pulses to study the composition of rocks and stones, and drilled 2 holes for analysis breeds with the help of its SAM and ChemIN mini-laboratories.
Gale Crater was chosen to land because it looked like a place where ancient rivers once flowed.
One of the goals of the Curiosity rover was to find an answer to the question of whether this place was once habitable.
Curiosity rover results: there was life on Mars!
So far, the answer remains positive. In February 2013, the rover drilled a hole at a site known as John Klein in Yellowknife Bay and performed chemical and mineral analysis of rock samples.
The results showed that the minerals present in this sample were those that are formed only in the presence of water, namely water suitable for life.
The map shows the path that the Curiosity rover traveled from Bradbury Landing on August 6, 2012 to the position it reached on 351 Martian days on August 1, 2013.
Also, during all this time, a robot the size of a car traveled 1.6 kilometers, which was celebrated on August 1 on 351 Martian days.
One year of the Curiosity rover on Mars in 2 minutes (video)
NASA researchers have created a video of Curiosity's 12-month stay on Mars, collecting animations and images of the mission.
Curiosity rover: news 2013
The next question Curiosity will try to answer is “Where exactly was the water?”
To answer this question, the rover will embark on an 8-kilometer, year-long journey to Mount Sharpe. The rocks at the base of Mount Sharpe, which rises 5.5 km in the center of Gale Crater, should help scientists determine when Mars had water.
On its way to Mount Sharpe, the Curiosity rover will make several stops.
Most recently, he took a rare picture of Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, together.
Meanwhile, Curiosity's older sister, the Opportunity rover, continues its journey on Mars and will arrive at its place of ascent to the mountain on the opposite side of Mars.
In addition, the MAVEN probe to study the atmosphere of Mars is being prepared for launch, which will take place on November 18, 2013 from Cape Canaveral.