NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover has finally overcome its toughest challenge yet.
The space agency recently confirmed that Curiosity has reached Mars' precarious Gediz Vallis Ridge after some failed attempts during its search for evidence of liquid water on the Red Planet.
NASA's Curiosity rover has been on Mars since Aug. 6, 2012, making it more than 11 years old as of press time.
Curiosity Got The Ridge
NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover can now continue its search for evidence of liquid water on Mars. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the rover reached the Red Planet's Gediz Vallis Ridge after three failed attempts, allowing it to continue its search.
Getting to the ridge wasn't easy for NASA and Curiosity, however. The place features "knife-edged 'gator-back' rocks" and slopes too steep for Curiosity to traverse.
The route NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has taken while driving through the lower part of Mount Sharp is shown as a pale line here. Different parts of the mountain are labeled by color; Curiosity is currently near the top end of Gediz Vallis Ridge, which appears in red.
The ridge is located at the higher parts of Mars' Mt. Sharp, the mountain that Curiosity has been ascending since 2014, per NASA's Mars Exploration site. Its slopes and gator-back rocks formed when powerful debris flows carried mud and boulders down the side of a mountain.
The debris then spread into a fan that the Martian wind eroded over time, which presumably holds records of Mars' watery past. Scientists believe the mountain holds evidence that Mars was much wetter in the past compared to the arid land it is now.
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Thankfully, the space agency's JPL found a spot where Curiosity could safely access the steep ridge on Aug. 14. Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said that reaching the ridge and touching rocks that were transported from places high up on Mt. Sharp that humanity couldn't visit with Curiosity was "a thrill."
The ascent is well worth the effort even if NASA decided not to continue trying to reach the Gediz Vallis Ridge. The Mars rover discovered evidence of ancient lakes and streams along the way to the ridge, with Mt. Sharp's layers providing a physical record of the different eras of Martian history.
Nevertheless, Curiosity's achievement means that NASA scientists and experts can now access more evidence about Mars' blue past and even information about the planet's landslides.
What Did NASA Find?
A 136-piece mosaic consisting of pictures Curiosity took of the Gediz Vallis Ridge of Mars' Mt. Sharp. THis mosaic provides a 360-degree view of the surrounding area; it even features the path Curiosity took up the mountainside to reach the ridge.
After its arrival on the Gediz Vallis Ridge, NASA scientists and experts found dark rocks that "clearly originated elsewhere on the mountain." They also acquired the first up-close views of the eroded remnants of a debris flow fan, where debris flowing down the slope spreads out into a fan shape.
Debris flow fans commonly occur on Mars and Earth, but scientists are still unsure how they form. Nevertheless, these discoveries have geologist William Dietrich, a mission team member at the University of California, Berkeley, excited.
Dietrich said in a statement that Curiosity's discovery will push the scientific community to better explain Debris flow fans on Mars and Earth, where they are a natural hazard to people living near mountainsides.
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