NASA’s Curiosity Takes Selfie With ‘Mary Anning’ on the Red Planet



The Mars rover has drilled three samples of rock in this clay-enriched region since first arriving in July.


NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has a new selfie. This latest
is from a location named “Mary Anning,” after a 19th-century
English paleontologist whose discovery of marine-reptile fossils were ignored
for generations because of her gender and class. The rover has been at the site
since
this past July, taking and analyzing drill samples.

Made up of 59 pictures stitched together by imaging
specialists, the selfie was taken on Oct. 25, 2020 – the 2,922nd Martian day,
or sol, of Curiosity’s mission.

Scientists on the Curiosity team thought it fitting to
name the sampling site after Anning because of the area’s potential to reveal
details about the ancient environment. Curiosity used the rock drill on the end
of its robotic arm to take samples from three drill holes called “Mary
Anning,” “Mary Anning 3,” and “Groken,”
this last one named after cliffs in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. The robotic
scientist has conducted a set of advanced experiments with those samples to
extend the search for organic (or carbon-based) molecules in the ancient rocks.

Since touching down in Gale Crater in 2012, Curiosity has
been ascending Mount Sharp to search for conditions that might once have
supported life. This past year, the rover has explored a region of Mount Sharp
called Glen Torridon, which likely held lakes and streams billions of years
ago. Scientists suspect this is why a high concentration of clay minerals and
organic molecules was discovered there.

It
will take months for the team to interpret the chemistry and minerals in the samples
from the Mary Anning site. In the meantime, the scientists and engineers who
have been commanding the rover from their homes as a safety precaution during the
coronavirus pandemic have directed Curiosity to continue its climb of Mount
Sharp. The rover’s next target of exploration is a layer of sulfate-laden
rock
that lies higher
up the mountain. The team hopes to reach it in early 2021.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in
Pasadena, California, leads the Curiosity mission. Curiosity took the selfie
using a camera called the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the end of
its robotic arm. (Videos explaining how Curiosity’s selfies are taken can be
found here.) MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems in
San Diego.

For more information about Curiosity, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/

https://nasa.gov/msl

News Media Contact

Andrew Good

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-2433

andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Alana Johnson / Grey Hautaluoma

NASA Headquarters, Washington

202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668

alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov / grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov

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Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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