Curiosity Rover at Pahrump Hills as Taken by Mars Orbiter[/caption].
Welcome back My Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe. Today’s edition will contain the images and information, about the Mars Curiosity rover, that you are most accustom. In today’s edition you can look forward to; the customary map showing Curiosity’s progress on the Martian surface, panoramic images from the most recent position and the most recent ‘selfie’ taken by Curiosity. Now, My Dear Shoevians, I will revisit the format of last week from time to time.
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NASA'S Journey to Mars[/caption].
NASA and JPL are moving rapidly towards their goals for 2020 and 2030, as outlined in the image above. Recent discoveries on Mars, some outlined here today, have generated strong public support for continued missions to Mars. In some corners of the public, and up on the Hill, support for manned missions to Mars are at their highest point in decades. I am pleased by this upswing in support and confident that manned missions to Mars, and other terran planets, are in the best interest of mankind.
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Curiosity's Position After 10 Kilometers[/caption].
On April 16th 2015, the 957th Martian day, just days ago Curiosity past the ten kilometer (6.214 mile) mark on its trek on the Martian surface. Arriving at Pahrump Hills the rover Curiosity took an incredible panoramic image. Below we can see this panoramic image, taken by the Navcam (Navigational Camera), this shows us the sandy floored valley Curiosity must pass through next. This path will take Curiosity higher on Mount Sharp for further excavation, experimentation and some more incredible images of the Martian surface.
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Ten Kilometers and Counting, on Mars[/caption].
Well, My Dear Shoevians, we are going to step into Danny’s Reverse Time Machine’ (‘Wayback is already taken) for the rest of this article. Meaning, the images that follow are in reverse chronological order. I just wanted to lead with the most recent news, and images, rather than burying my lead. J I am going to take a moment, here, to express just how happy I am to have returned to writing and publishing here at The Other Shoe. Please feel free to post comments, suggestions, corrections and even helpful ideas at the end of any articles you wish. This web host has a security provider which will require your email, or verification purposes ONLY! Your email is never seen by me, or the web host and will never be used other than for verification for posting comments. Thank you!
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Now, on with the show! I decided to switch things up here on ‘The Mars Report’ by including the following image from the Opportunity Martian rover. Taken on March 13th, 2015 (YES Opportunity is still producing science and taking images) this image was taken from the western rim of Endeavor Crater. Gazing down into Marathon Valley I was struck by its beauty. The image is a composite image, created with four separate images taken with the Pancam (Panoramic Camera) aboard the Opportunity rover. My Dear Shoevians, the Martian rover Opportunity took this image on its 3,958th day on Mars!!! When NASA/JPL design and build something? They bloody well build it to LAST!
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Mars Panoramic of 'Marathon Valley' by Opportunity[/caption].
The more I catch-up on my reading, writing and research the more troubled I am by my lost time battling cancer and recuperating from its toxic effects on my body. It troubles me… it even frustrates me… then, I think and realize. Realize that my time has not be lost, merely misplaced. I would have loved to share the following discovery by Curiosity in real time with all of you, My Dear Shoevians. However, I am content that I am sharing this historic discovery with all of you now. Now, for the historic discovery….
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NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Biologically Useful Nitrogen on Mars[/caption].
On March 24th, 2015 NASA released the following statement “NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Biologically Useful Nitrogen on Mars”! This is exceptional news in the pursuit for ‘conditions conducive to life’ on the Martian surface. The discovery was made, in January, by a team using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite aboard NASA's Curiosity rover. The team made the discovery while heating samples gathered at the ‘Rocknest’ site in Yellowknife Bay. The scientists discovered nitrogen in the form of nitric oxide. Whereas this discovery is not of nitrogen used by a life form, it does show that nitrogen was available on the surface of Mars in its ancient past.
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Mars Weather-Station Tools on Rover's Mast[/caption].
Since, My Dear Shoevians, we are on the subject of ‘conditions conducive to life on Mars’, let me share another recently made ‘little’ discovery. This discovery was made by the Curiosity rover, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), and reported April 13, 2015. We all know that besides nitrogen on a planet, life needs water for the creation, and habitation, of life. For many years scientists have theorized that the ‘dark streaks’ shown on images of surface features were, in fact, frozen water in the form of brine.
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On April 13th, 2015, in an article at NASA’s web site[6], the REMS found conclusive evidence that “conditions at the rover's near-equatorial location were favorable for small quantities of brine to form during some nights throughout the year…”[7] The device, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, pictured above was responsible for this discovery. Therefore, My Dear Shoevians, we now have evidence of nitrogen and water (trapped as brine) on the Martian surface. Both discoveries made by our intrepid sojourner the Curiosity Martian rover. I don’t know about you, My Dear Shoevians, but I am getting pretty excited!
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Prominent Veins at 'Garden City' on Mount Sharp, Mars[/caption].
Continuing on our adventure of discovery today, I bring you the above image. As the caption indicates this is an image, taken by the MastCam’s Right Eye Lens, shows a network of dark “prominent” veins found at the ‘Garden City’ location. These veins are thought to be mineral deposits caused by fluids moving through fractured rocks. The veins are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding rocks, supporting the theory that these veins are made up of harder more resilient minerals. My Dear Shoevians, if all of the science I have shared here with you today is in fact… well, factual? Mankind is wasting time sitting here on Earth. We should, in fact, be mounting expeditions to Mars to confirm these theories and begin excavation and mining of these minerals! It is time mankind finally crawled out of our crib and took our rightful place on other planets and among the stars!
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That, My Dear Shoevians, brings us to the end of this week’s edition of ‘The Mars Report’. As always, I like to save the best image for last. Today is no exception as today’s last image from the Martian surface is a ‘selfie’ from Curiosity! Taken February 23rd, 2015 this is the most recent self-taken image of the Martian rover Curiosity. NASA/JPL takes these images, periodically, to do a visual inspection of the rover. AS we can clearly see, from this image, Curiosity is in fine shape and ready for another nine hundred, or nine thousand, days on the Martian surface.
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Curiosity Self-Portrait at 'Mojave' Site on Mount Sharp[/caption].
My Dear Shoevians, I want to assure you that so long as Curiosity is transmitting data and images… and as long as my health allows, I will continue to write and publish ‘The Mars Report’ right here at The Other Shoe. Again, I thank you all for your kind and devoted patronage to my blog. Knowing that you all are dropping by, each and every week, and reading my work and enjoying these images… helps give me the will to battle my cancer and continue.
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Thank you!
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Adieu!
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Author/Editor Danny Hanning in Rolling Hills Estates February 2015[/caption]© 2010 – 2015 Hanning Web Wurx and The Other Shoe
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P.S. All images used courtesy of NASA/JPL web sites[10].
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