Mars Rover Curiosity: 466 Feet Of Travel On Red Planet

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The latest news is that the Mars Rover Curiosity has covered 466 feet of martian land since it landed on The Red Planet almost three weeks ago. And doesn’t that photo look like the terrain on the Star Trek episode Arena? Really, it does – a testament to the detail to which the show’s producers formed an alien terrain they never saw before. But I digress.

Here’s the text of NASA’s update:

Sol 38 (Sept. 13, 2012) was destined to be a driving day for NASA’s latest edition to the Martian landscape. Curiosity perambulated over 105 feet (32 meters) of unpaved Gale Crater during yesterday’s drive. The rover’s odometer now clocks in at 466 feet (142 meters) covered since the landing on Aug. 5.

The sol’s activities also included pre- and post-drive imaging of the road ahead by both Mastcam and Hazcam, and science measurements from the DAN and REMS instruments.

The Sol 38 Navcam image of the surface in front of the rover can be found at: (raw image at: http://1.usa.gov/QLCB15 ).

In addition, Curiosity’s science instruments performed observations and measurements, including Mastcam observations of the Martian moon Phobos passing in front of the sun.

Curiosity continues to work in good health. Sol 38, in Mars local mean solar time at Gale Crater, ended at 8:34 a.m. on Sept. 14, PDT.

Next up: a map of exactly where the rover is on Mars, and with respect to us here on Earth.

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