Google+ Mars Travel: Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 21 2011

Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 21 2011

Today's Image of Mars is a color image of Gale Crater with Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity's approximate landing spot outlined. You can see that MSL Curiosity will be landing close to the base of Gale Crater's central mound, which contains an abundance of sulfates and clays formed in a wet environment. Curiosity will land in a flat ares of the crater (as indicated in the image) and work its war up the mound, determining the conditions in which each layered deposit was formed. 

The MSL Curiosity team hopes to determine whether Mars was ever habitable. They believe examining clays formed in wet conditions provides them the best chance of determining whether there was ever life on Mars.

Clicking on this image will take you to all previous posts related to Gale Crater.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL


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