After researching the Martian crest of Vera Rubin for more than one year, the NASA rover Curiosity moves on. However, this new video panorama with a 360-degree view allows you to see the last place where the rover drilled the crest of the Vera Rubin crest – the area called Rock Hall. This video was created based on a series of panoramic images taken on December 19th, the rover. It includes images of his next scientific goal – the area, which the mission’s scientific team calls the clay-bearing unit, which recently received the name Glen Torridon – as well as the bottom of the Gale crater, where Sharp rises, on which the rover climbs, since 2014.
And although the rover leaves the crest of Vera Rubin, the mission’s scientific team still continues to work on analyzing the history of its formation. Although the researchers have already collected a lot of data, they still cannot fully explain the fact that this ridge is able to resist erosion much more efficiently than the surrounding rocks. However, a study conducted with the help of a rover made it possible to find out that the rocks composing this ridge were formed as a result of the accumulation of sediments in an ancient lake, similar to the formation of rock layers under the ridge.
A new rover science target, the Glen Torridon area, lies in the valley between the crest of Vera Rubin and the rest of the mountain. This area is considered clay-bearing, because the data obtained with the help of the orbiter demonstrate that the rocks in this area contain phyllosilicates — clay minerals that are usually formed in water and can tell scientists the history of the ancient Martian lakes that were in the Gale crater.
Curiosity rover leaves the crest of Vera Rubin, 360-degree video panorama.
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