In this episode, Curiosity continues to climb Mount Sharp, captures stunning images,
takes more selfies and makes good progress towards an ancient river channel.
Curiosity is currently watching a dust devil from its position at a site known as Mary Anning .
The dust devil is estimated to be about 16 feet, or 5 metres wide, and at least 164 feet
or 50 metres tall. The frames in this sequence were captured over 4 minutes and 15 seconds.
The team decides its a good place to take some drill samples and orders the rover to go ahead.
Curiosity drills 3 holes. This time-lapse shows one of the drill attempts.
In reality, it took the rover over 20 minutes to complete, using the feed-extended drilling method,
which still seems to be working well. Engineers responsible for the drilling can
instantly tell that the rock is very soft, based only on data from Curiosity s pressure sensors.
It was so soft in fact, that no percussion was required, only rotation from the drill.
Curiosity celebrates in the usual way, by taking a selfie. The rover will now
spend a few Sols putting together one of its most beautiful panoramas yet.
In this image, some NASA scientists have described what they are seeing
as a series of benches , descending towards the crater floor in the distance.
It s certainly a great view from here. The crater rim can be seen in the background.
Curiosity turns around to continue the climb up Mount Sharp and comes across
some interesting terrain. The closest outcrop is named Mont Mercou .
Mount Sharp looms behind the other outcrops.
While looking up, the rover captures a special type of cloud. These iridescent,
or mother of pearl clouds are sometimes spotted on Earth at high latitudes, but are very rare.
They radiate different colours, and occur when clouds are very high in the atmosphere.
This type of cloud might actually be more common on Mars due to the thin atmosphere.
The rover approaches Mont Mercou and takes 2 mosaics from slightly different positions.
When put together these images create a 3D effect.
The rover team spots some clouds behind Mont Mercou.
They order Curiosity to take a few more images, which are then combined into a video sequence.
Each frame of the sequence is made from 6 individual images.
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The rover takes a selfie near Mont Mercou after a succesful drill campaign at a site named Nontron
. It s named after a village in France because the area on Mars contains Nontronite , a rare type of
clay. The mineral was named after the area that it was first found, the French Village Nontron.
Curiosity spends a little more time observing clouds before setting off on a big drive.
The team orders the rover to look towards a mountain in the distance, and they give
it the name Rafael Navarro Mountain , after the astrobiologist Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez,
who worked on the mission until he passed away on January 6th 2021.
This image shows the proposed route. Curiosity will pass alongside Rafael Navarro Mountain
and then climb up on to the Greenheugh Pediment once again, before proceeding
to the exciting Gediz Vallis Channel. Before doing that, Curiosity cannot resist
climbing up on top of Mont Mercou and taking a panorama. The other side of
Mont Mercou is relatively flat, so it was an easy drive for the rover.
Still, the team at NASA won t allow the rover to get too close to the edge.
After a long drive, Rafael Navarro Mountain comes into range.
The rover will pass alongside this to access higher layers on Mount sharp.
In the next episode, the rover finds flaky rocks that were formed in a stream or small pond,
takes more stunning images and finds what looks like a Martian flower.
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