You don't have to fly to Mars yet, but that doesn't mean you can't tour the Red Planet. NASA released this week a video showing a panoramic tour of Mars using images taken by the Curiosity Rover. This month marks its ninth anniversary on Mars.
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The 360-degree panorama was captured by the rover on July 3, near Rafael Navarro Mountain. NASA named the hill Rafael Navarro Mountain after an astrobiologist who died in January. NASA released a press release saying that the panorama is composed of 129 images, which have been white-balanced to resemble Mars under daylight conditions. The video tour can be viewed below.
Since its 2012 landing, the rover has been plodding around Gale Crater (a 96-mile (154-kilometer) wide) basin on Mars. Since 2012, when Mars is in its winter, the red haze of dust around Mars begins to clear up. Curiosity now has a clear view of the Gale Crater and 16 miles (25.7 km) of travel it has made over the course of its mission.
These snapshots provide interesting insight into the evolution of the planet's environment over many millions of years. Curiosity had previously explored the region dominated by clay-rich rock formations in lakes. Now it is discovering salty minerals called "sulfates" rocks.
According to Abigail Fraeman (Curiositys deputy project scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory), the rocks will tell us how once-wet Mars became dry Mars today. They also show how long it took for habitable environments to persist, she said.
Scientists believe that life could have existed on Mars in this ancient Martian environment. This is why NASAs Perseverance and Curiosity are searching the area for clues. NASA has stated that Curiosity will travel past Rafael Navarro Mountain, and another mountain taller than a 4-story building over the next year. It will then enter a narrow canyon and return to the slope it climbed in 2020.
