Curiosity landing site, Gale Crater (THEMIS_IOTD_20130403)
During the month of April, Mars will be in conjunction relative to the Earth. This means the Sun is in the line of sight between Earth and Mars, and radio communication between the two planets is almost impossible. During conjunction, the two rovers (Curiosity and Opportunity) and orbiting spacecraft at Mars continue to operate, but don't send the data to Earth. Their recorded data will be sent to Earth when Mars moves away from the Sun and full radio communication between Earth and Mars is reestablished. During conjunction, the THEMIS Image Of The Day will be a visual tour of Gale Crater, the location of NASA's newest rover, Curiosity.
Our first image of Gale Crater contains the landing site of the rover approximately in the center of the image. The dark material is active sand in the form of dunes. The rover's navigation team will have to find a trafficable path through the dune area to get to the layered deposits making up Gale's giant central mound, which scientists have named Mt. Sharp. The scene here measures 18 x 64 kilometers (11 x 40 miles).
See the Red Planet Report at redplanet.asu.edu for updates on Mars research.
For the latest THEMIS Mars images as received by mission scientists, see themis.asu.edu/livefrommars. To learn more about the THEMIS camera and its Mars images, see themis.asu.edu. And for more information about this image and to get larger versions, see themis.asu.edu/node/6127
This image is in the public domain and may be republished free of charge, but if used it should be credited as NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University.
Curiosity landing site, Gale Crater (THEMIS_IOTD_20130403)
During the month of April, Mars will be in conjunction relative to the Earth. This means the Sun is in the line of sight between Earth and Mars, and radio communication between the two planets is almost impossible. During conjunction, the two rovers (Curiosity and Opportunity) and orbiting spacecraft at Mars continue to operate, but don't send the data to Earth. Their recorded data will be sent to Earth when Mars moves away from the Sun and full radio communication between Earth and Mars is reestablished. During conjunction, the THEMIS Image Of The Day will be a visual tour of Gale Crater, the location of NASA's newest rover, Curiosity.
Our first image of Gale Crater contains the landing site of the rover approximately in the center of the image. The dark material is active sand in the form of dunes. The rover's navigation team will have to find a trafficable path through the dune area to get to the layered deposits making up Gale's giant central mound, which scientists have named Mt. Sharp. The scene here measures 18 x 64 kilometers (11 x 40 miles).
See the Red Planet Report at redplanet.asu.edu for updates on Mars research.
For the latest THEMIS Mars images as received by mission scientists, see themis.asu.edu/livefrommars. To learn more about the THEMIS camera and its Mars images, see themis.asu.edu. And for more information about this image and to get larger versions, see themis.asu.edu/node/6127
This image is in the public domain and may be republished free of charge, but if used it should be credited as NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University.