火星的鳄背岩

2022年4月15日

The Gator-back Rocks of Mars
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS

Explanation: Wind-sharpened rocks known as ventifacts, cover this broad sloping plain in the foot hills of Mount Sharp, Gale crater, Mars. Dubbed gator-back rocks their rugged, scaly appearance is captured in these digitally stitched Mastcam frames from the Curiosity rover on mission sol 3,415 (March 15, 2022). Driving over gator-back rocks before has resulted in damage to the rover’s wheels, so Curiosity team members decided to turn around and take another path to continue the rover’s climb. Curiosity has been on an ascent of Gale crater’s central 5.5 kilometer high mountain since 2014. As it climbs, it’s been able to study layers shaped by water on Mars billions of years ago.

Tomorrow’s picture: the pines of Orion

火星的鳄背岩
影像提供: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS

说明: 在火星盖尔陨石坑夏普山脚下的这片广阔倾斜平原上，有大片因受风袭而锐化的风棱石。呈现这片因其粗犷鳞状外观而昵称为鳄背岩之主题影像，则是由好奇号火星车的桅杆相机，在任务的第3415个火星日（2022年3月15 日）所拍摄的照片拼接而成。先前行驶在鳄背岩上，导致这部火星车的车轮损坏，因此好奇号团队成员决定让火星车掉头，沿另一条路径继续攀登（夏普山）。自2014年以来，好奇号一直在攀登这座位于盖尔陨石坑中央的5.5公里高山。在攀登的过程中，它也一直在研究火星上因数十亿年前的水所形成之分层。

明日的图片: the pines of Orion