Watching Curiosity from Orbit (2012-2015)

A few days ago on Geektimes a post “Curiosity from a bird's-eye view” was published, which showed one of the newest photos of a rover made by a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Clearly, the device was in orbit today: Curiosity was photographed from a height, starting from its first day on Mars.

At the same time, the photos are detailed, and by them you can track the path of the rover, starting in August 2012, and ending with today. By the way, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter orbiter has been in Mars orbit since 2006. Photos made a tool called HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment). This is one of the six scientific instruments of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The camera has already helped scientists see the geological features of some regions, get images of places where lakes once were, explore the surface of Mars in the smallest detail.

')
Well, let's rank rover photos from the moment of his appearance on Mars to the present moment?


August 6, 2012. The photo was taken with the HiRISE tool before the rover landed. A minute later, the unit fell to the surface of Mars.


August 14, 2012. Curiosity is spotted on a photograph at a planned landing site at Geyra Crater. The image is part of a mosaic photograph made by University of Arizona experts to show the surface of Mars around a rover.


The photograph shows parts of the landing system of the rover: heat shield, parachute, landing platform.


September 6, 2012. A month after his landing, the rover began its journey across Mars. Here the rover overcame a few meters.


October 4, 2012. Two months have passed, and Curiosity managed to drill the surface of Mars.


October 10, 2012. Stereoscopic image of the rover.


April 3, 2013. The photo shows the landing platform and the parachute of the rover. The animation shows the length of time in 5 months. Parachute changes shape and position due to the Martian winds.


It has been 11 months, the rover has been almost half a kilometer away.


January 9, 2014. Very problematic area for rover wheels. It is here that the main damage caused to the undercarriage of the rover. But the design of Curiosity met the expectations of scientists, the rover is moving forward.


April 16, 2014. The rover reached the Kimberly region, where important scientific experiments were conducted.


July 8, 2014. It has been almost two years since landing on Mars. Curiosity overcomes the border of its “landing ellipse”. This is a region at any point in which the rover could descend upon landing. Specialists still can not land spacecraft with an accuracy of up to meters.


February 6, 2015. And this photo has already been published in a post, "a href =" geektimes.ru/post/245388 "> Curiosity from the height of bird flight ."