Curiosity works on Mars exactly three Earth years

Today, the Curiosity rover has a three-year anniversary of work on Mars. Rover sank to the surface of the Red Planet on August 6, 2012. Almost immediately after the landing, the rover began work - an examination of the surface of Mars, objects and minerals found on the way.



NASA has released a video in honor of this event, which tells about the most interesting moments of the rover. And a lot of interesting things. For example, Curiosity was able to measure radiation in flight and on the surface, the rover also found traces of the presence of water in the past of Mars (thanks to this, the fact of the presence of water in the past of Mars is no longer questioned).





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There is also a large amount of data on the climate of Mars, the composition of its atmosphere and surface. At the beginning of the journey, Curiosity also conducted research on the surroundings of Gale crater for signs of microbial life. Near the landing site, the rover found traces of an ancient lake that had existed on the Red Planet for thousands of years. Perhaps there was life in this lake (perhaps not).



After the crater followed the turn of Mount Sharpe. Actually, this mountain was the main purpose of the journey of the rover. Now research continues, and more and more new surprises are constantly being discovered. The total amount of time that the rover spent on the mountain is five months. During this time, the rover thrice drilled rock.



In addition, Curiosity discovered continental rocks on the Red Planet. Previously it was believed that on Mars, most likely, magmatic activity, which is one of the conditions for the development of lithospheric plates, was practically absent. However, recent studies show that this is not entirely true. The rock samples found by the rover are very similar in composition to the rocks of the Earth. The described samples are about 3.6 billion years old. Some granite-like rocks are very similar to those that make up the continental crust on Earth.



And here is another video where in 8 minutes 11 years of travel of the other rover are collected - Opportunity. This is a real veteran who is still working.