Selfie at Vera Rubin Ridge
On sol 1943 of its journey of exploration across the surface of Mars, the Curiosity Rover recorded this selfie at the south rim of Vera Rubin Ridge. Of course a sol is a Martian solar day, about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day.
Curiosity's sol 1943 corresponds to Earth date January 23, 2018. Also composed as an interactive 360 degree VR, the mosaicked panorama combines 61 exposures taken by the car-sized rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).
Frames containing the imager's arm have been edited out while the extended background used was taken by the rover's Mastcam on sol 1903. At the top of the rover's mast, sitting above the Mastcam, the laser-firing ChemCam housing blocks out the distant peak of Mount Sharp.
Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS - Panorama: Andrew Bodrov
#space #nasa #universe #science #Mars #CuriosityRover
Will we see humans there in our lifetime I wonder? Residents rather than visitors
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't stop Elon Musk from wanting people to go there though. Stephen Hawking has talked about it as well, since he believes we need to due to overpopulation and climate change.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we will really know for sure unless people do - perhaps through genetic engineering, or some kind of human/machine hybrid 'cyborg'. It wasn't that long ago (in the context of human history) that going into space was a fantasy.
Humans are a very inventive and imaginative species, but also very destructive and greedy, especially as resources become more scarce (which is inevitable with rapid human population growth). I would like to things will turn out for the better though.
ReplyDeleteWe will go... and we will colonize!
ReplyDelete