NASA's Curiosity Rover has spent a significant amount of time on and around Mount Sharp on Mars to study different layers of the mountain. Now it's time for the rover to look up higher for evidence of life on Mars.
The area around Mount Sharp is undoubtedly the most scenic area ever strolled by the curiosity rover. With the help of the rover, NASA has already collected ample number of samples from drilled rocks to analyze whether Mars can support life.
However, Phys.org reports that the mobile laboratory is now being moved to uphill spots on Mount Sharp. The new mission started on Oct. 1, Saturday. As a first step, the curiosity rover would approach locations that are rich in material containing hematite, an iron-oxide mineral. In addition, it will also collect samples from a clay-rich bedrock, which is situated ahead of the area rich in hematite.
The higher layers of Mount Sharp are quite younger and researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California believe that these layers have the potential to surprise the life hunting team. There are huge chances that the curiosity rover may definitely be able to find evidence of life on Mars in the higher layers, if not anywhere else.
The entire idea to send curiosity rover uphill is to explore and examine the succession of rock layers. This will help the team at NASA understand how the planet evolved over a period of time. In fact, the American space agency is planning to conduct several similar missions and milestones in the future, in an attempt to find evidence of life on Mars.
The curiosity rover is currently examining a site called "Murray Formation." Over the period of next two years, the rover would explore the upper half of the Murray Formation, according to Mirage News. So far, the rover has discovers that the site is primarily formed of mud that usually accumulated at the bottom of ancient water bodies.
