Curiosity Rover’s Epic New Panorama of the Sands of Mars
Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be on Mars? This incredible panorama might be the closest experience you can get! Via Wired.
NASA’s Curiosity rover recently climbed atop a dune in an area nicknamed “Dingo Gap” on Mars and peered into the valley beyond. This stunning 30,000-pixel-wide panorama — made from 101 images — is what it saw.
The incredible mosaic is best viewed by clicking on the full-screen button in the upper left. It comes to us courtesy of Estonian photographer Andrew Bodrov, whose work we’ve featured several times before. The panorama shows off the spot that Curiosity is pausing at before rolling on to the base of Mount Sharp. There, it will search for signs of ancient life on Mars and try to figure out how the planet changed from a warm, wet one to a cold, dry one. In the distance, you can see the mountainous rim of Gale Crater, over which the rover has photographed some amazing images of the Earth in the night sky.
Engineers had originally planned to reach Mount Sharp using a fairly direct route. But after concerns that the rough terrain was bunging up the rover’s wheels too much, they sought an alternate path. A few days ago Curiosity reached Dingo Gap, beyond which satellite images show much smoother goings. A 1-meter sand dune, featured prominently in the panorama above, stands at the gateway to Dingo Gap. On Feb. 3, it seemed likely that the rover would take this easier route, though a final decision is still pending.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
