According to csmonitor.com Curiosity landed on Mars in Gale Crater. It's been hanging out there and snapping photos since August 5th, 2012. And it's not just photographing the red planet... it's taking rock samples too! It is roaming around and selecting rocks to shoot x-rays at.
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| Super Rock x-ray powers don't just belong to the man of steel anymore! |
By shooting the x-rays and exposing the rocks to different particles it can tell scientists exactly what chemicals are in the space rocks that Curiosity is finding. We even do this process for our rocks that we have here on Earth too. By doing this scientists can determine whether or not "the fire star" (aka Mars) was ever or ever will be capable of supporting life.
~Nate McClain
I think this is a cool idea, but if I remember right the top image is just an artists interpretation of what it might look like on Mars, so maybe next time add a disclaimer?
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
DeleteWhen following the link it says that the pic was snapped by Curiosity