Check out some breathtaking footage from NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity! This stunning video was filmed from dawn to dusk on Earth’s neighboring planet, and it’s truly a sight to behold.
The robot documented the whole thing on Nov. 8 during the 4,002nd Martian day of its mission. Pretty cool, right? We know, we thought so too. The downtime for Curiosity was due to Mars passing around the opposite side of the sun to Earth. But during these periods, called Mars solar conjunctions, the ground control operators kept a close eye on the robot, ensuring that everything was running smoothly.
For two weeks in November, the Mars fleet was incommunicado, but as soon as it was back online, Curiosity got busy with those two Hazard-Avoidance Cameras (HazCams). Good thing that robotic eye isn’t afraid to turn its gaze elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Curiosity ground team was hoping to see some wild Martian weather, but there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Hey, there’s always next time!
Although the videos didn’t show much in the way of interesting weather, they did capture a great glimpse of a valley carved into Mount Sharp or Aeolis Mons. In case you weren’t in the know, this 3-mile (5-kilometer) mountain in the Gale Crater is a big deal in the Red Planet’s history. And, oh yeah, Curiosity has been exploring the region since its landing in 2012! Talk about the little rover that could.
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Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.
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