on Mars

The exploration of Mars continues with the Curiosity rover doing its thing now for almost a year. A couple of days ago it went on a lengthy Sunday drive, moving a whopping 100.3 meters (109.7 yards). That’s pretty fast, really, and was the rover’s longest drive to date.  And, along the way, the Mars Hand Lens Imager took a nice picture, almost from the viewpoint of the driver in a car, with the rest of us being the kids in the backseat as our folks drive us along to see the sights.

I like pictures such as this because they give all of us a sense of “place” on Mars. It’s not some strange alien landscape. Well, it is, but it’s a familiar alien landscape. We’ve been looking at Mars in high-resolution in situ images for years now, and it’s getting to feel almost like home. Just without the water, trees, roads, and other stuff we see as we drive along highways here on Earth.

You could imagine stopping the trip, getting out of the car and picking up some of those rocks in the foreground. Or, running over to the hillside that doesn’t look like it’s too far away, and checking out the strange layers of rock.  Or, maybe turning around and heading straight up the side of that hill, called Mt. Sharp.

This possibility of exploration by “hand” is what interests me about Mars. It looks so approachable. So study-able. So fascinating. And yet, it’s so far away.  And, we’re not going there any time soon. The first human missions to Mars are probably at least a decade or more away.  So, we content ourselves with what is really almost like a “webcam” study of Mars, provided by our long-working robotic explorers such as Curiosity and Opportunity.

Want to learn more about Curiosity’s Sunday drive? Check out the news release and enlarged image for more details. I guarantee it’ll whet your appetite for more things Mars.