WASHINGTON: NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has found a new route to some interesting rocks after its original path proved too difficult to traverse due to slippery slopes.
Curiosity climbed a hill on Thursday to approach an alternative site for investigating a geological boundary, after a comparable site proved hard to reach. The drive of about 22 meters up slopes as steep as 21 degrees brought Curiosity close to a target area where two distinctive types of bedrock meet.
The rover science team wants to examine an outcrop that contains the contact between the pale rock unit the mission analysed lower on Mount Sharp and a darker, bedded rock unit that the mission has not yet examined up close. Two weeks ago, Curiosity was headed for a comparable geological contact farther south, NASA said.
Foiled by slippery slopes on the way there, the team rerouted the vehicle and chose a westward path. The mission’s strategic planning keeps multiple route options open to deal with such situations.
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