The rover Curiosity arrived to the main goal of its mission - Mount Sharp

This selfie is made by the rover long before arriving at the destination of its journey, waiting for new photos from NASA

On Mars, everything is going well, and the Curiosity rover has achieved the main goal of his mission - Mount Sharp, in the very center of Gale's crater. Already, preparations are underway for drilling in this region. The fact that the rover, finally arrived where scientists really wanted to see him, reported NASA .

At the first stage of the mountain research, the rover will take soil samples from the region at the lower slope of the mountain, this will not be very difficult. The study of the rocks of Mount Sharp, according to scientists, will allow a better understanding of the geological structure of Mars, as well as get more information about the conditions that prevailed on the Red Planet many millions of years ago. Mount Sharp (or Mount Eolid) is the center of the shock crater Gale, and rises above the surface of Mars by 5.5 kilometers.
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It is worth noting that earlier the path of the rover should have been a little different, but previously scientists decided to change it, because on the chosen path came across too many sharp stones and protrusions that caused severe damage to the rover wheels. After that, Curiosity was sent to the mountain along a different path, running through sand dunes (as mentioned earlier, Martian sand is not sand in the full sense of the word, but rather dust). It was also decided to slightly change the route on Mount Sharpe.



Now everything is fine with the rover, and, as mentioned above, scientists are preparing to drill rocks (by the way, not so long ago, a special NASA commission required the rover team to drill more and drive less). Curiosity will begin its work with rock outcropping, called the Paramp Hills. According to experts, this place will help to understand the geological structure of the block, which represents a significant part of the foot of Mount Sharp. Previously, scientists had planned to start the study from Murray Buttress ("Murray Buttes"), but after some time it was decided to send the rover to Paramp Hills, which are more interesting for geologists than the Murray Buttes. New work will begin next week, and we have to wait for the results.