At 14:48:34 UTC the Mastcam Right captured this nice view with rounded hillocks, against the background of a blue sky but partially covered by white clouds.The wad-like appearance of this cloud is definitely different from the cirrus clouds that sometimes veil the Martian sky.However, it remains a mystery to me how clouds can form in an atmosphere so dry that if we condense all the… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2492, Aug. 10, 2019
At 16:31:54 UTC the Mastcam Right captured this group of boulders and rocks of obvious sedimentary origin.I find the presence of extremely smooth and rounded rocks and sharp-edged rocks very interesting.Also note how the soil around the rock at the top of the photo appears darker and in places shaped by the flow of a liquid, probably water condensed on the rocks themselves.The original image… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2492, Aug. 10, 2019
“Tests in Sweden of the parachute system for the Russian-European ExoMars 2020 mission proved unsuccessful: the station’s model crashed during landing, Ria Novosti reported, citing an informed source on the test results.The test of the parachute system at the Esrange training ground in Sweden failed. The full-size model of the ExoMars 2020 Martian station landing module crashed during the landing, according to the agency.The press… Read More »ExoMars 2020 system crashed during parachute test in Sweden (article by Anna Kharitonova, translated from Russian)
ESA’s Mars Express probe captured this cosmic contrast in Terra Cimmeria, a region located in the highlands of Mars’ southern hemisphere marked by impact craters and valleys carved by water with dust and sand in colors of chocolate and caramel.Although we often refer to Mars as “the red planet,” a close-up view shows us a wide variety of colors, from white to black, yellow to… Read More »Darkness meets light on Mars
At 11:04:34 UTC the Mastcam Right took this nice photo of the drilling just performed by Curiosity in the area called “Glen Etive 1”.With so many interesting rocks seen in the last days, I would have expected in drilling site a little more interesting than this simple layered rock.In any case, the hole obtained appears to be deep enough and so we hope that the… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2486, Aug. 4, 2019
Arsia Mons, August 4, 2019: the volcano wakes up!!! After months of no observation and an apparent quiescence since last June 19 (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2260042377412276/), the activity of Arsia Mons definitely seems to resume in a big way!Ridiculous explanations such as “seasonal phenomenon” or “orographic cloud” no longer hold up and it is time that someone decided to give more credible explanations.Not only a nice puff… Read More »************************ Breaking news ************************
At 08:43:46 UTC the Mastcam Right shot for the third time this suggestive hillock of stratified rocks with the blue sky for background but this time slightly veiled!I suggest you to compare this image with the two previous ones, that of Sol 2458 (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2291028767646970/) and that of Sol 2464 (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2300905249992655/). Compared to the previous image there are further differences in the color of… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2484, August 2, 2019
At 23:02:37 UTC the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) has taken this beautiful picture of a Martian rock from a distance of only 7.47 cm and with a definition of 0.0338 mm/pixel, thus covering an area of 5.31 cm X 3.95 cm.An incredible interweaving of limestone (or gypsum), such as to create such intricate textures as to make the surface of this rock worthy of… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2483, July 31, 2019
At 04:16:30 UTC Mastcam Left took this nice photo of the inner rim of Gale Crater.The horizon appears veiled by a kind of haze very similar to that observed here on Earth during humid days, but less intense than in other photos.If this haze was due to dust in suspension it would appear ocher in color and not tending to blue as in this case.Also… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2481, July 30, 2019
At 06:09:12 UTC Mastcam Left took this picture of Martian layered rocks.These rocks appear on average of the typical “Mars red” color, except in the inlets and recesses where the color turns decidedly turquoise.The ground also shows similar color variations, but also shows two very interesting “flows” darker than the surrounding terrain in the left side of the image; liquid water?Are we looking at the… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2475, July 24, 2019