[meteorite-list] NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Views Striated Ground

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 09:56:35 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201402271756.s1RHuZPS023672_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-063

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Views Striated Ground
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
February 26, 2014

[Images]
    * Martian Landscape With Rock Rows and Mount Sharp
    * Martian Landscape With Rock Rows and Mount Sharp (Stereo)
    * Curiosity's View Back After Passing 'Junda' Striations
    * Panoramic View From West of 'Dingo Gap'
    * Panoramic View From West of 'Dingo Gap' (Stereo)

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has reached an area where orbital images had
piqued researchers' interest in patches of ground with striations all
oriented in a similar direction.

A close-up look at some of the striations from the rover's Navigation
Camera gains extra drama by including Mount Sharp in the background. The
lower slopes of that layered mountain are the mission's long-term
science destination. The image is online at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17947

The foreground rocks are in an outcrop called "Junda," which the rover
passed during a drive of 328 feet (100 meters) on Feb. 19. It paused
during the drive to take the component images of the scene, then
finished the day's drive. A location still ahead, called "Kimberley,"
where researchers plan to suspend driving for a period of science
investigations, also features ground with striations.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess
ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian
environmental conditions. JPL, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
, http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. You can
follow the mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity
and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2014-063
Received on Thu 27 Feb 2014 12:56:35 PM PST