NASA’s Curiosity Rover is currently cruising around Mars while collecting reams of potentially useful data. As Curiosity travels around the planet, it is followed closely by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Recently, the Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a few photos of the Curiosity Rover in action. Curiosity was making its way to Mount Sharp, a five-mile journey across new terrain, when the photos were snapped.
When we think of pale blue objects in space, we typically think about Earth, but now we can add the Curiosity rover to that list.
The photo above shows the rover as a bluish dot in the lower right corner of the photograph. The photo was enhanced to show colors as they would appear in real life.
Look closely, and you can actually see the path that Curiosity traveled since landing on Mars in August 2012.
If you want to look at the photo by scale, the two wheel tracks are approximately 10 feet apart.
Also shown are two brighter blue spots on the left side of the photo. Those spots show where the Curiosity rover landed.
The darker patches in the photo occurs when the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft’s landing jets cleared away reddish surface dust
The new image was captured using a High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.
The new Curiosity rover picture was captured on July 27. The photo was taken during the afternoon as Curiosity finished its stay in the Glenelg area of Mars.
Mars’ new rover is still climbing to Mount Sharp. The mount is higher than any mountain in the 48 continental US states.
Here is a cool video that shows Curiosity’s first self-taken photos:
While it may be “many months” before Curiosity reaches the top of Mount Sharp, this first look shows the amazing beauty that surrounds the rovers trek across a desolate planet.
What do you think of the Curiosity rover space photo?
