The rover Curiosity is already transmitting more data to Earth from Mars than all NASA's earlier rovers combined. The words of NASA Administrator Charles Bolden were radioed Monday to the rover and back to NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth, becoming the first human voice ever to be sent from another planet. You can hear him here.
This image transmitted by NASA's rover Curiosity shows the base of Mount Sharp. That is the vehicle's eventual science destination. The image is a portion of a larger one taken by the rover's 100-millimeter telephoto Mast Camera. For scale, the white-bordered boxes enclose a dark rock that is approximately the same size as Curiosity. The pointy mound in the center of the image, looming above that rock, is about 1,000 feet across and 300 feet high. The terrain is a scene of eroded knobs and gulches on a mountainside. Geological layering is clearly exposed.
"This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go," said Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "Those layers are our ultimate objective. The dark dune field is between us and those layers. In front of the dark sand you see redder sand, with a different composition suggested by its different color. The rocks in the foreground show diversity ' some rounded, some angular, with different histories. This is a very rich geological site to look at and eventually to drive through."
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