Fine-layered rocks in the Murrey formation layer of Mt. Sharpe (Mount Aeolis, Aeolis Mons). Credit: NASA.
Since its deployment in 2012 to the surface of Mars, it has sent back many spectacular images of the Red Planet. In addition to photographing the Earth from the surface of Mars, not to mention a few wonderful ones, the rover has also taken countless photographs showing the geological structure and features of the surface of Mars in great detail.
And with the latest photos released by NASA, the Curiosity rover has given us a great view of the "Murrey Buttes" region at the bottom of Mount Sharp. These images were taken by Curiosity on September 8th and provide an excellent insight into the geological history of the region.
With these photos, the Curiosity team hopes to put together another colorful mosaic that gives a detailed look at the region's rocks and desert landscape. As you can see from the photos provided, the region is characterized by plateaus (measles) and remnants, which are the eroded remains of ancient sandstone. Much like other locations around Mount Sharp, this area is of particular interest to the Curiosity team.
Rolling hills and layered rock outcrops in the Murray Formation of Mount Sharpe. Credit: NASA.
Over the years, scientists have realized that the layers of rock that form the base of Mount Sharp were accumulated as a result of sediment deposited on the bottom of the ancient lake billions of years ago. In this regard, geological formations are similar to those found in the desert regions of the southwestern United States.
Alvin Vasawada, Curiosity Program Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said:
The "Murrey Buttes" region of Mars is reminiscent of areas of the US Southwest due to its remnants and mesas. In both areas, thick sediment layers were carried by winds and water, eventually creating a "layer cake" of rock that was then subjected to erosion when conditions have changed. In both places, layers of more stable sandstone cover the mesas and remnants, as they protect the more easily eroded, fine-grained rock beneath."
"Like Monument Valley near the border between Utah and Arizona, Murrey Buttes has only small remnants of these layers that once completely covered the surface. Both places had sand dunes driven by the wind, the same that now appears like criss-cross layers of sandstone. There are, of course, many differences between Mars and the American Southwest. For example, there were large inland seas in the southwest, while lakes existed in the southwest."
These sedimentary layers are believed to have been laid down over 2 billion years, and may have completely filled the crater one day. Since lakes and streams are believed to have existed in Gale Crater 3.3-3.8 billion years ago, some of the lower sedimentary layers may have originally been deposited at the bottom of the lake.
A finely bedded hillside outcrop in the Murray Formation at the bottom of Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA.
For this reason, the Curiosity team also collected drill samples from the Murrey Buttes area for analysis. It started on September 9 after the rover finished photographing the surroundings. As Vasavada explained:
"The Curiosity team drills regularly while the rover climbs Mount Sharp. We drill into the fine-grained rock that occurred in the lakes in order to see how the chemistry of the lake, and therefore the environment, has changed over time. Curiosity drilled coarse-grained sandstone , forming the upper layers of the remnants as the rover crossed the Naukluft Plateau earlier this year."
Once drilling is completed, Curiosity will continue south and up Mount Sharp, leaving these beautiful formations behind. These photos show Curiosity's last stop at Murrey Buttes, where the rover has spent the past month.
By September 11, 2016, Curiosity had spent only 4 years and 36 days (1497 days) on the planet Mars since .
One has to wonder how people with the help of pareidolia are going to interpret all this? After "seeing" a rat, a lizard, a donut, a coffin, etc., what is left? May I assume that the photo above looks like a column statue?
The title of the article you read Stunning new images of Mars from the Curiosity rover.
This year has been a good year for NASA's Martian surface robot, which has taken some stunning photos of the Red Planet over the past 12 months.
Since August 2012, the Curiosity rover has been making its way across the Martian surface, gaining new information about the environment. Where are the streams of water? Was there life here? And what happened in Gale Crater and Mount Aeolis? Now that the rover is in the lower mountain, it has captured some spectacular shots of dunes, rocks, and even a meteorite. Here are the most remarkable shots.
Dunes
Grab your 3D glasses and enjoy this 13ft Martian dune! The Namib Dune has become part of the study of active sand dunes (they migrate rapidly every year). The Namib is part of the Bagnold Dunes region, which move one meter a year.
"Like on Earth, downwind, sand dunes have a steep slope called a sliding edge," NASA said in a statement. “Sand grains blow from the windward side, creating mounds, which then, like an avalanche, fall down. Then the process is repeated."
sandy selfie
This is another view of the Bagnold Dune region taken by the rover from the front. It's not just a cool shot. It allows NASA engineers to monitor the state of the device. For example, the first cause for concern was how quickly the wheels of the rover wore out. NASA started driving on nasty ground, which slowed down the wear rate.
bumps
The Martian rock is an interesting thing to study, as it tells a lot of useful information about the geological history of the planet. Here you can see some sandstone outcroppings inside the Murray Geological Block. For some reason, these formations seem to have stopped the erosion.
"The site is located in the lower Mount Sharp zone, where mudstones from the Murray Block (visible in the lower right corner) are exposed adjacent to the overlying Stimson Block," NASA said in a statement. “The exact line of contact between the two blocks is covered with windblown sand. Most of the other parts of the Stimson Block did not show the presence of erosion-resistant nodules."
rocks
This magnificent panorama (including the shadow of the apparatus on the right) shows the Naukluft Plateau at the bottom of Mount Sharp. Curiosity took a series of images on April 4, so that geologists were able to understand the entire region (rock history).
“Since landing, the rover has passed through terrain with aquatic sedimentary rocks (mudstones and siltstones, as well as accumulations in the early stages), some of which contained minerals such as clay, indicating the ancient presence of water,” says NASA. “But on the new plateau, the rover found itself in a completely different geology. The sandstone here represents thick layers of windblown sand, suggesting that these deposits formed in a drier era.”
Ripples and dust
Even the ripples on Mars are different. The largest ripples in the image are 10 feet apart. You won't see this on Earth. Although the small ones still resemble ours. This image was taken in December 2015 at the Bagnold dune field. The images were immediately sent to Earth for publication, but sometimes it takes months to upload to get a better look.
“The footage was taken in the early morning with a camera facing the Sun,” NASA writes. “This mosaic image has been processed to make the ripples more visible. The sand is very dark because of the morning shadows and the inner darkness of the minerals that dominate its composition.”
Autonomous Piu Piu
Bye laz 
Black robot gunfire looks a little intimidating on Earth, it has been used peacefully on Mars. The rover selects targets for laser analysis using a software program. So, if the device is in the right place, it can get to work while scientists try to orient themselves. On the left frame you see the goal before the procedure, and on the right - the result.
“The ChemCam laser spectrometer erases a grid of nine points on a stone selected according to specified criteria. In this case, it was necessary to find a bright exposed stone, and not dark rocks. Within 30 minutes after the Navcam received the image, the laser completed the task on the target area.
rocky beauty
What at first glance looks like a random assortment of Murray Buttes hill rocks actually says a lot about the long history of ancient Mars. While the planet is dominated by wind erosion, the image shows important processes for the past. The craft also found evidence of water erosion in the upper regions of Mount Sharp.
“These are the remains of ancient sandstone created by wind-set sand after the formation of Lower Sharp Mountain. The cross bedding indicates that the sandstone was blown by a migrating dune."
Vision of the future
The picture was taken in late 2016, showing the view from the rover, including where it is heading next. The orange rock is the lower part of Mount Sharp. Above it is a layer of hematite, even higher is clay (hard to see here). The rounded hills are a block of sulfate where Curiosity plans to head. Farther away are the high slopes of the mountain. The rover will be able to see them, but will not drive close.
“The variety of colors hints at the difference in the composition of the mountain. Violet has already been noticed in other rocks in which hematite has been found. This season the winds don't blow much sand and the rocks are relatively free of dust (which can obscure the color)."
alien visits
You can't even imagine how cool it is! A man-made rover surfs an alien planet and stumbles upon an alien object. You see a nickel-iron meteorite about the size of a golf ball. It was called "stone egg". “This is a general class of space rocks that have been found more than once on Earth. But on Mars, we found this for the first time. It was examined using a laser spectrometer."
Path through history
Brief description of the picture: The plan for 2159-2162 working days was very big, for 4 sols almost 3 gigabits of data! All this volume was transferred to Earth with the help of two additional orbiters. Typically, the MRO and Mars Odyssey vehicles are used to send data, on average 500 megabits of data are transmitted per sol (about 60 megabytes). In November, the InSight mission will land on Mars and all MRO resources will be directed to data transmission from this lander, then the Curiosity rover will switch to transmission via the MAVEN and ExoMars spacecraft. These days, work through these satellites was just tested. This allowed to reduce the amount of deferred data.
During Sol 2159, the rover recharged its batteries. Over the next three days, the rover went into a flurry of activity. MastCam captured multispectral panoramas of Tayvallich, Rosie, Rhinns of Galloway and Ben Haint, and captured the Ben Vorlich rock. The "Ben Vorlich" stone was examined with a laser using a ChemCam analyzer, and "Tayvallich" was studied with an APXS X-ray spectrometer, a ChemCam analyzer and filmed with a MAHLI camera on the arm of the manipulator.
After executing the program for 2161 Martian days, a calibration cycle of the main instruments of the rover was carried out, and the APXS spectrometer studied its calibration target (a marker on the rover itself) at night. The MastCam camera took a series of multispectral images of the working area.
Sol 2162 was devoted to collecting environmental data, including a survey of the sky and the rim of Gale Crater, to compare the amount of dust near the surface with its concentration in the atmosphere as a whole.
On Martian day 2163, the rover traveled 15 meters to the next location where it was supposed to use the drill rover. An interesting gray rock site has already been selected for this, which, according to orbital data, belongs to the Jura region from the Murray geological horizon on the Vera Rubin Ridge. This place was called "Lake Eriboll" (Loch Eriboll, Scottish). Scientists decided to find out how this section of the rock differs from the surrounding brown stones, which are more typical for this area. Before proceeding to contact research, it was decided to explore the area from the outside.
But first, on Sol 2165, MAHLI took a close-up picture of a REMS UV sensor, which needs to be checked periodically for dust and general condition. 
After checking the sensor, the rover moved a little to the side and conducted a series of remote surveys of 4 targets ("The Law", "Eathie", "The Minch" and "Windy Hills") using the ChemCam analyzer, then documented them using the MastCam camera.
For a couple of days, the rover studied the place of geological contact of gray and brown stones in the "Lake Eriboll" area. On Sol 2167, the rover again moved slightly away from the drilling site. From the new position, the rover conducted two autonomous ChemCam spectrometer surveys of the rocks in the area. Then he took readings from the REMS and DAN instruments, monitored the environment using a navigation camera, prepared the CheMin analyzer for operation (vibrated the remains of the soil from the Stoer area) and conducted basic testing of the SAM.
The rover met the 2168th Martian day on its way to the finally chosen location for drilling on the Vera Rubin Ridge. The move to the work area was successful and the rover stopped in front of a stone slab with the name "Inverness". On the same day, an area on the slab surface was cleaned of dust with a DRT brush, photographed with a MAHLI camera, studied with an APXS X-ray spectrometer, and the ChemCam laser analyzer evaporated the surface layer to study its chemistry. At the end of the day, the work area was filmed with a MastCam camera 
It would seem that everything is taken into account and ready to go. For several days, the rover was preparing to carry out drilling operations. On Sol 2171, the rover tried to drill a hole in the stone surface of the Inverness slab, but failed ... In the morning, when the working day on Earth had just begun, scientists learned that the drill could only go deep into the surface by 4 mm. 
Too hard! After a short discussion of the situation, it was decided to try again, but already in the area of \u200b\u200bLake Orcadie (Lake Orcadie), where they had previously tried to drill on the 1977th sol. During the last attempt in that area, they were able to go deeper by 10 mm, but then the new drilling method had not yet been finalized.
Having completed work in the region of the Inverness plate, the rover on Sol 2173 was supposed to travel 65 meters towards Orkady Lake, but could not ...
All of you probably know that in August 2012 a truly grandiose event took place in the space industry. An entire scientific laboratory, the 900 kg Curiosity rover, has successfully landed on the surface of Mars.
The landing and operation of Curiosity can be considered one of the most successful missions. 
Typical landscape of the red planet
The equipment allows you to regularly send new photographs from Mars, as well as conduct various geological, chemical and weather studies of the red planet.
Today, you won’t surprise anyone with a new photo of Mars from the Curiosity rover from the Gale crater, but during those 668 Martian days that it should surf the surface of the planet, we will probably hear more than once about many new and interesting discoveries.
All the photos that we see, he sends from Gale Crater.
This place is not randomly chosen for landing. If there are no troubles, the rover could theoretically work for 14 years on the surface of the planet.
The main goals of scientists are to study the geological history of the planet, as well as to search for possible life or traces of it in the past.
The rover is equipped with many cameras and even navigational ones. All pictures are black and white, and you can take pictures through various filters. By combining the photos obtained through the filters, they can be made colored, but they will differ slightly from the color that we would see with our own eyes. 
In the meantime, the rover is drilling the surface and shooting at the rocks with a laser, we offer a look at the most interesting images. Enjoy watching.
Track from the wheel of the rover
While a person is just preparing to land on Mars, automatic stations are working with might and main on the surface of the Red Planet, and artificial satellites are flying in its orbit, compiling a detailed map of the surface of the fourth planet from the Sun. We present a selection of the 10 best images of Mars and its surface, which make a distant planet a little closer.
A photograph of the surface of Mars along with the Mariner Valley, a giant system of canyons that formed during the formation of the planet. To get one single image, scientists had to put together more than 100 individual images transmitted to Earth by the Viking 2 spacecraft.
Impact crater Victoria, about 800 meters in diameter, was photographed by the Opportunity rover on October 16, 2006. Sending such a high-quality image to Earth is not an easy task. It took three whole weeks to get all the constituent parts of this image.
The largest impact crater on Mars with a diameter of 22 kilometers is called Endeavour. He was photographed by the same tireless "Opportunity" on March 9, 2012.
The color of these Martian sand dunes resembles the waves on the surface of the earth's sea. Sand dunes form on Mars in the same way as on Earth - under the influence of wind, moving several meters a year. The picture was taken by the rover Curiosity November 27, 2015.
This image of a small impact crater, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows just how much ice can be lurking beneath the surface of Mars. A meteorite that fell to the surface of the planet was able to break through the surface layer and expose a large amount of frozen water. Perhaps billions of years ago, seas and oceans were indeed located on the surface of Mars.
The famous "selfie" of the Curiosity rover, taken on January 19, 2016, near the Gale impact crater.
This is what a sunset looks like on Mars. The picture was taken by the Spirit apparatus on May 19, 2005. The bluish hue of the sky during sunset or sunrise on Mars is due to the same reasons why we see blue skies on Earth. Light waves of a certain length, corresponding to blue and blue light, scatter, colliding with gas and dust molecules, so we perceive the sky as blue. Only on Mars, where the atmosphere is much less dense, such an effect can be seen when light passes through the maximum thickness of the air - that is, at dawn or at sunset.
Wheel tracks of the Opportunity apparatus and a dusty whirlwind in the background. And although dusty swirls are quite common on Mars, catching one of them in the frame is a real stroke of luck.
It seems as if this photo was taken not 225 million kilometers from the Earth by the Curiosity apparatus, but somewhere in a desert area on our planet.
Images used: NASA
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