By 
February 9th, 2014
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechSee More
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover has crossed a dune that stands across a gateway to a southwestward route favored by the rover team for driving to future science destinations.
After reaching the west side of the 3-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) dune,… the rover looked back at its tracks down the western slope. The dune sits between low scarps at a site called “Dingo Gap” inside Mars’ Gale Crater.
Now that Curiosity has passed through the gap, engineers and scientists plan to direct the mobile laboratory toward a location of interest where different rock types intersect. That is a candidate site for next use of the rover’s drill.
Beyond that, the drive will continue toward the mission’s long-term science destination on lower slopes of Mount Sharp, in the middle of the crater. This image is a raw image of the rover’s tracks over the dune. It was taken by Rear Hazcam: Left B (RHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 535.
Posted in Space News
