14 DAY TRIAL // Mission controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, have just released a new image of the Martian surface, collected by the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The photograph features some of the tracks left behind by the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity as it treks along on the surface of the Red Planet.
Both MRO and MSL are managed by JPL for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, in Washington DC. MRO captured this image of Curiosity and its tracks as the rover was getting ready to begin studying a butte called Mount Remarkable, on April 11, 2014. The photo was snapped using the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument on the orbiter.
As Curiosity was using its Navigation Camera (Navcam) instrument to photograph the 5-meter (16-foot) butte, MRO was passing overhead, snapping pictures of the rover. The HiRISE instrument is one of the best camera/telescope combos ever sent into space. Since MRO arrived in Martin orbit, back in 2006, the tool has been used to map almost the entire surface of our neighboring world in detail.
Curiosity currently investigates a larger area of interested called Kimberley, which it reached earlier this month. Four different types of rocks merge in this area, so JPL experts have already announced their intentions of conducting some longer-term studies here. The rover will use both its laser drill and internal ovens to analyze samples from Kimberly, in search of organic molecule signatures.