NASA’sCuriosity roveris acquit the first - ever study of a sand sand dune on any planet other than Earth , and recently returned these panoramic image of Mars ’s Namib Dune , offer a new glimpse of the Martian landscape painting .
Rising to a height of about 4 meters ( 13 foot ) , the structure is place within a band of benighted moxie sand dune known as the Bagnold Dunes , which line the northwesterly flank ofMount Sharp . Curiosity strive the nucleotide of the pot in 2014 , and is currently in the process of climbing it so as to examine how the terrain transfer with altitude .
At present , the bird of passage is conducting a study into how hint motility and deposits grains of Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin on Mars , where the atmosphere is much thin than that of Earth . As can be run into from the images returned by Curiosity , Martian sand dune share many similarities with terrestrial ones , consisting of a exorbitant side on the downwind side and a more gradual slope on the windward side .
Close - up image of the downwind slope of the Namib Dune . NASA / JPL - Caltech
This occurs because the sand dune itself shelter sand on the downwind side , make it to drop out of the air current and spring a near - vertical drop . As this builds up , sand avalanches are common , and while Curiosity is yet to capture one of these in action , the images show where these have antecedently occurred .
The Namib Dune is combat-ready , migrating at a rate of about 1 meter ( 3 feet ) per Earth yr as the Martian winds continue to sweep the gumption forward . These paradigm show the downwind face of the dune , and were taken from a distance of 7 meters ( 23 feet ) , using the rover ’s mast camera .
Panoramic scene of the Namib Dune , stitched together from component images captured by Curiosity on December 18 , 2015 . NASA / JPL - Caltech
Curiosity captured the component images of these panoramas on December 18 , 2015 , its 1,197th Martian twenty-four hours on the Red Planet . Also known as asol , each Martian day is slimly foresightful than an Earth solar day , survive for 24 60 minutes , 39 minutes and 35 seconds .
Mars ’s Namib Dune . NASA / JPL - Caltech
