In this episode, Curiosity escapes Hidden Valley,
explores a site named Garden City and witnesses the Martian sunset.
The rover is currently located in a valley with soft, deep and slippery sand. The team at
NASA wants to get out of the valley as soon as possible, as Curiosity could become stuck.
This series of images from the rear hazcam shows the rover backing out of the valley,
retracing its tracks. This is the view from the other
side of the rover, the front hazcam, as the team initially sent the rover in backwards,
a strategy used to compensate for the poor health of Curiosity s wheels.
Now safely out of hidden valley, Curiosity is finally approaching the Pahrump Hills.
The team decide to take a drill sample at this site, known as Confidence Hills as the rocks
nearer to mount sharp will help to develop a picture of what happened in this area.
Here is the sample in the scoop. On Sol 801, the team decides to perform
an experiment, by driving over a sand ripple to expose the material below.
The reason for this experiment is to gain a better understanding of the loose,
wind deposited sand ripples in the area. Hopefully more knowledge about these deposits
will prevent future situations like the one at Hidden Valley.
The wheel track provides a cross section view of the sand deposit,
and Curiosity uses its laser to take data.
On Sol 817, Curiosity comes across some interesting,
exposed bedrock and takes a close look. The area is about 6 feet, or 2 metres across.
Meanwhile, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is flying overhead and spots the rover,
now squarely within the Pahrump Hills area.
Curiosity is ordered to perform a drill test on a target named Mojave. The result is a cracked rock.
On Earth, geologists carry hammers to crack rocks. This apparent mishap
presents a rare opportunity to see freshly exposed rock on the Martian surface.
Curiosity is ordered to take 2 drill samples from the same site.
No further cracking is observed.
The rover celebrates by taking a selfie. This map shows an area named artists drive,
which Curiosity will have to pass to access higher rock layers on Mount Sharp.
On the way, the team at NASA spots an interesting outcrop, which is named Garden City.
Exposed mineral veins criss-cross the entire area. Curiosity heads over to
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Mineral veins usually form where fluids move through fractured rocks, depositing minerals
in the fractures. In this case, the minerals deposited in these veins have been more resistant
to erosion than the surrounding host rock. The contrast between the light veins and
darker rock type here suggests a very high fluid pressure.
This image covers an area roughly 2 feet, or 60 centimetres across.
The mars reconnaissance orbiter spots the rover once again,
within the artists drive site, can you spot it?
This interactive map made by NASA shows the true scale of the journey.
Zooming out from the Pahrump hills area we can see the size of gale crater,
as well as mount sharp in the centre.
Gale Crater is roughly 96 miles in diameter, or 154 kilometres.
Curiosity stops to take a panorama within artists drive,
now well within the Pahrump Hills region.
This mosaic shows the view in front of the rover.
Gravel and sand ripples can be observed in the foreground,
typical of terrains that Curiosity traversed to reach Mount Sharp from its landing site.
Outcrops in the midfield are of two types: dust-covered, smooth bedrock
that forms the base of the mountain, and sandstone ridges that shed boulders
as they erode. Rounded buttes in the distance contain sulfate minerals,
perhaps indicating a change in the availability of water when they formed.
On sol 956, Curiosity captures multiple images of the Martian sunset.
This short series of images provides the most detailed view
of what a sunset looks like on Mars.
As Curiosity continues, it approaches an area nicknamed Logan Pass.
This closer image shows that this terrain is unfavourable for the rover.
Instead, the team decide to take Curiosity through a safer passage, known as Marias Pass.
On its way through, Curiosity observes what scientists are calling the Stimson unit.
These dark areas of finely bedded sedimentary rock are found throughout Gale Crater and make
up the Stimson Unit. Here, the lighter coloured mudstone is intersecting below the Stimson unit,
leading the team to conclude that the mudstone was created first,
and then a large body of water deposited minerals that make up the layers of the Stimson unit.
This image of another contact zone at Marias Pass, nicknamed Missoula lends further credence to this
theory, as the white mineral veins abruptly end when they meet the darker rock above. So firstly,
the mudstone would have hardened, then fractured and groundwater deposited minerals to form these
veins. Sometime after that, large bodies of water made the layers visible at the top.
Just a few days later, on Sol 1041, Curiosity comes across another interesting rock,
which is thought to have been formed by the wind and contains a large amount of silica.
Rocks containing silica are known to be exceptionally good indicators of
ideal conditions for preserving ancient organic material.
The team at NASA orders Curiosity to examine the health of its wheels.
During this process, a rock can be seen hitching a ride inside one of the wheels!
The rock should prove no danger to the mission, and will eventually fall out on its own.
Although showing a lot of damage, as well as some rather large holes,
the wheels are okay for now. The rover is ordered to take a
rock sample from a site known as buckskin, and celebrates by taking yet another selfie.
In the next episode, Curiosity explores a giant dune field,
finds some so-called blueberries, and approaches the entrance of Murray Buttes.
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