APOD: Curiosity's View (2015 Aug 08)

[APOD Robot]

Curiosity's View

Explanation: By planet Earth's calendar, the Curiosity Mars Rover reached its 3rd anniversary on the surface of the Red Planet on August 6. To celebrate, gaze across this dramatic panoramic view of diverse terrain typical of the rover's journey to the layered slopes of Aeolis Mons, also known as Mount Sharp. Recorded with Curiosity's Mast Camera instrument, the scene looks south across gravel, sand ripples, and boulders toward rounded buttes. In the background, higher layers at left are toward the southeast, with southwest at panorama right. The individual images composing the view were taken on Curiosity's mission sols (martian days) 952 and 953 since the rover's landing on August 6, 2012.

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[hville]

Why go to the expense of sending an astronaut to Mars? You can get the pretty much the same scenery by visiting Nevada.

[ceelias]

It's interesting that many of the larger rocks are sticking out of the ground - vertically. That position is unusual in my experience looking at most disturbed and undisturbed sites on earth. I would expect the high winds (or marsquakes - if Mars has quakes) on Mars to cause the rocks to fall to a lower energy position.

[BMAONE23]

There is a really interesting light toned seam protruding from the ground about a quarter of the way from the right side. From a distance it resembles a twisted stick

Click to view full size image

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Close-up of "Stick" like seam

[Chris Peterson]

It's interesting that many of the larger rocks are sticking out of the ground - vertically. That position is unusual in my experience looking at most disturbed and undisturbed sites on earth. I would expect the high winds (or marsquakes - if Mars has quakes) on Mars to cause the rocks to fall to a lower energy position.

Perhaps we are seeing ventifacts- rocks which have been shaped by the wind. On Earth, they frequently form vertical structures.

The martian atmosphere is extremely thin, so the kinetic energy of wind is low. Even high winds are not going to push rocks over (but they can carry dust, which will erode stones over millions or billions of years). Tectonic activity on Mars is low or absent, so we should see little or no impact from marsquakes. And the gravity is only 38% of that on Earth, so the difference between higher and lower potential energy states is smaller, as well.

[Woolseydip]

I never miss the APOD, and especially enjoy the photos from the surface of Mars or other distant bodies we've landed on. Often I'm a little frustrated at not being able to tell the scale of things in the photos. Is that hill a thousand feet away, or five miles? Today I had an idea. Why not add images, visible with a cursor-over, of human beings (e.g. a 5'3" female and 5'10" male standing together) placed on the landscape as they would appear at various distances. Just a thought I wanted to share.

[neufer]

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I never miss the APOD, and especially enjoy the photos from the surface of Mars or other distant bodies we've landed on. Often I'm a little frustrated at not being able to tell the scale of things in the photos. Is that hill a thousand feet away, or five miles? Today I had an idea. Why not add images, visible with a cursor-over, of human beings (e.g. a 5'3" female and 5'10" male standing together) placed on the landscape as they would appear at various distances. Just a thought I wanted to share.

[chuckster]

Rocketship XM was filmed just the other side of those hills in the Southwest.

[sOnIc]

The back button on this APOD entry is missing a page - it should go to the Earth/Moon pic but it misses that day .... Hal would not be amused ...
(It should go to ap150807 .. but its going to ap150806 - Also note the forward button is wrong too)

[chuckster]

The long crawl toward credibility for female scientists. From what I've heard from a couple different JPL scientists (and their wives that accompany them to conferences) the vaunted ranks of distinguished scientists are liberally peppered with chauvinists who still think science is for men only. A roomful of PhD's has the same values as the good ol' boys at the golf club. I just couldn't get the hang of algebra until I had a female instructor in a Summer make-up class in high school. She changed my life, and when I read Heinlein stories where women made the best starship pilots, I believed it.

[saturno2]

Very, very interesting.

[hoohaw]

Why go to the expense of sending an astronaut to Mars? You can get the pretty much the same scenery by visiting Nevada.

You can indeed, and you can breathe in Nevada, too. And be warm. And be free of cosmic rays. And find a restaurant.
Imagine the first settlers on Mars, getting out, and seeing Mars spread before them, knowing that the whole planet is equally welcoming. And they can't just get back in their vehicle and hit the "home" button...

[neufer]

Why go to the expense of sending an astronaut to Mars? You can get the pretty much the same scenery by visiting Nevada.

You can indeed, and you can breathe in Nevada, too. And be warm. And be free of cosmic rays. And find a restaurant.
Imagine the first settlers on Mars, getting out, and seeing Mars spread before them, knowing that the whole planet is equally welcoming. And they can't just get back in their vehicle and hit the "home" button...

• What lands on Mars stays on Mars.

[Nitpicker]

I can't get past the ethical issues that arise whenever I ponder future settlers on Mars attempting to reproduce and raise children. Assuming it is even conceivable (ha ha) I can imagine a native Martian growing up to become rather angry at his eccentric Earthling parents and his bleak and lonely existence, stuck hopelessly on a cold, dead planet. The pathetic atmosphere on Mars would be enough to make his blood boil (without a space suit).

[Animal of Stone]

This is one of my favorite type of APOD contribution. Get a real sense of what another planet would be like. Up close. The fact that it may resemble Nevada or most of the interior of Australia intrigues me no end. And i went onto the recommended site where you can scan and get real close to the rocky formations and noticed a rock that seems to have been laser cut right through. A straight clean cut. Can someone tell me if this is a natural geological formation? It is to the right of the screen about two thirds of the way up, near the "cup cake" hill.

[Animal of Stone]

Sorry folks. Cup cake hill is in the centre of the photo. Once you find it scan across to the right. And go to the first dip in the low flat ridge. In that little valley lies this strange circular rock.

[Bradberry]

Looks like landscape carved by flash flooding.