What are you doing on November 8, 2023? I can’t say that myself, but I can tell you what NASA’s Curiosity rover is doing: standing still on its 4002nd day on Mars, taking snapshots of the Martian surface.
Now, JPL mission team members have spliced together two series of frames from the rover’s front and rear hazard cameras to create a unique video that captures the passage of time on the Red Planet.
The Hazard Camera (short for Hazard Avoidance Camera) is used by rover pilots to navigate the tricky Martian terrain, which is covered in rocks, slopes and other obstacles. But the rover’s operations are limited just before Mars rendezvous with the sun, when solar activity threatens to disrupt radio communications between Earth and the rover.
The Curiosity team recorded 12 hours of footage on two hazard cameras during the time between the rover’s operational pause and merge. These 25-frame videos record views of Mars’ Gale Crater from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. local time on November 8, 2023.
The hazard camera ahead looked into Gediz Vallis, a valley on Mount Sharp at an altitude of 18,000 feet. Rear Hazard Camera image looks toward the floor of Gale Crater from the slopes of Mount Sharp, which juts out from the 96-mile-wide crater.Curiosity takes its fair share beautiful image of hillside,as well as interesting rock formations.
Later in the day, the camera’s exposure was longer than a minute, which resulted in noise in the image that looked a bit like snow. (We can assure you, there’s no snow on Mars.) About eight seconds into the Post-Hazard Camera view, cosmic rays hit the camera sensor, causing dark spots to appear in the image.
Other visual artifacts may be caused by Martian dust that fell on the camera lens during Curiosity’s 11 years on Mars.Although Hazard Camera captured Mars in black and white, NASA Publish large amounts of color images Be attracted by curiosity.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of NASA engineers, Curiosity continues to trudge forward on the surface of Mars. Earlier this year, Rover gets major software updateIt’s the first major mission since 2016, and scientists hope this will increase its speed and reduce wear on its wheels, which could keep the mission active for years to come.
more: Take a panoramic video tour of Mars aboard the Curiosity rover
