Curiosity, NASA's rover exploring Mars, has finally arrived at its next drilling site to perform its next mission: look for clues that may prove that the Red Planet's environment has once supported life.
During the first week of April, the rover has drove 98 feet in order to arrive to the site. Its journey to this site has been planned as early as 2013 as it is one of the sites identified to be viable for studying rock clues about the planet's past environment. Curiosity is also at its best point for its cameras to start surveying and looking for the different types of rocks found in the area, which is called Kimberley, after a place in Western Australia.
Upon its arrival at Kimberley, the rover has driven a total of 6.1 kilometers since it landed on Mars in 2012. Curiosity's first location at Mars was at the Gale Crater.
Curiosity's missions at Kimberley were meticulously planned, and they are as extensive as its missions in the Yellowknife Bay, where the rover spent almost half of 2013.
"This is the spot on the map we've been headed for, on a little rise that gives us a great view for context imaging of the outcrops at the Kimberley," Melissa Rice from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, told Economic Times. Rice serves as the leader gathered, and sample collection.
At Yellowknife Bay, Curiosity studied the rock samples that it has drilled from the planet and discovered that they carry a signature similar to rocks that existed near a lake environment. The presence of liquid water in this lake conditions might lead to clues about ancient life forms on Mars.
At Kimberley, the researchers controlling Curiosity are planning to look for similar clues. After completing the mission there, they will direct the rover to go to the slope of Mount Sharp, which is found at the Gale Crater.
