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Curiosity Lights Up ‘Nevado Sajama’ at NightJanuary 26, 2026NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used LED lights on the end of its robotic arm to create this rare nighttime view of the Red Planet’s surface on Dec. 6, 2025, the 4,740th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission. The LED lights are part of the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, a camera on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm. The image was captured by the Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on the rover’s mast, or “head.” On occasion, scientists have used MAHLI’s LED lights to illuminate areas deep in shadow during the day, such as the insides of drill holes and the inlet tubes leading to instruments in the rover’s belly. Much earlier in the mission, the Curiosity team used these LEDs at night to look for layering or other features in drill hole walls that would help them understand a rock’s composition. Since the mission changed its drilling method, the drill holes have come out too rough and dusty to see any such details. After drilling a rock target nicknamed “Nevado Sajama” on Nov. 13, 2025 (Sol 4,718), the team noticed the drill hole walls were smooth enough to try looking for layers and decided to try illuminating the drill hole at night. This drill hole was made during Curiosity’s exploration of a region full of geologic formations called boxwork, which crisscross the surface for miles and look like giant spiderwebs when viewed from space. (...)
Black Hole @konstructivizm 2:10 PM · Apr 22, 2026DNA precursor molecules discovered on MarsThe Curiosity rover has discovered 21 organic molecules in Martian rock, seven of which have been identified for the first time on the Red Planet. According to a paper in Nature Communications, this is the most diverse collection of organics ever found on Mars.The "Mary Anning 3" sample was collected in 2020 on the slope of Mount Sharp, an area once covered by lakes and streams billions of years ago. Clay minerals in these rocks acted as a natural reservoir, protecting the organics from destruction by cosmic radiation.The key finding was a nitrogen heterocycle, a ring structure of carbon atoms incorporating nitrogen. These molecules are considered chemical precursors of RNA and DNA. They have not previously been detected on the surface of Mars or in Martian meteorites. Other findings include benzothiophene, a carbon-sulfur compound characteristic of meteorites that presumably carried prebiotic organics throughout the early Solar System.This discovery does not prove the existence of life—the molecules may have a geological origin. But it does confirm that ancient Mars possessed a chemistry consistent with the origin of life.The analysis was conducted by the rover's onboard SAM laboratory. For Mary Anning 3, a "wet chemistry" method was used for the first time: the sample was immersed in TMAH, a solvent that breaks down large molecules into fragments that can be identified.Curiosity had only two cups of this reagent. To verify this, the scientists treated a fragment of the Murchison meteorite (over 4 billion years old) with the same TMAH: the large molecules broke down into the same components as in the Martian sample. This indicates that the discovered molecules may be the decay products of even more complex organic structures.
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Frees Its Drill From a RockOn April 25, 2026, Curiosity drilled a sample from a rock nicknamed “Atacama,” which is an estimated 1.5 feet in diameter at its base, 6 inches thick and weighs roughly 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms). When the rover retracted its arm, the entire rock lifted out of the ground, suspended by the fixed sleeve that surrounds the rotating drill bit. Drilling has fractured or separated the upper layers of rocks in the past, but a rock has never remained attached to the drill sleeve. The team initially tried vibrating the drill to shake off the rock, but saw no change.Then, on April 29, they tried reorienting Curiosity’s robotic arm and vibrating the drill again. Imagery in the GIF shows sand falling from Atacama, but the rock stayed attached to the rover.Finally, on May 1, Curiosity’s team tried again, tilting the drill more, rotating and vibrating the drill, and spinning the drill bit. The team planned to perform these actions multiple times but the rock came off on the first round, fracturing as it hit the ground.
Wątek: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity (Przeczytany 1306010 razy)