NASA's Curiosity Rover has finally reached its primary destination, Mount Sharp, in order to explore the area.
The achievement concludes a two-year journey across the Red Planet for the rover, according to NBC News. The mountain, also known as Aeolis Mons, stands in the middle of Gale Crater at 3 miles high.
The space agency believes Mt. Sharp holds a wider range of Mars' geology than any other probe has previously found. Mission scientist Katie Stack spoke in a recent NASA teleconference about the possibilities the area provides for learning about the planet's history. She added that the rock layers of the Murray Formation, which is close to where Curiosity is currently located, may be over 600 feet (200 meters) thick.
"We potentially have millions to tens of millions of years of Martian history just waiting for us to explore," Stack said.
The trip was delayed by about half a year due to the rover stopping along the way at a spot called Yellowknife Bay, The Los Angeles Times reported. However, the rover made up for it by drilling in the area and finding a large amount of chemical elements that could have supported microbial life.
John Grotzinger, Caltech geologist and project scientist, said Curiosity will now look for environments that would be able to support organic molecules. The rover is currently searching for these spots as it moves towards an outcrop called Pahrump Hills, which the rover found while it was trying to avoid sharp rocks that could cause damage.
Grotzinger added that Pahrump Hills was chosen as a drilling spot over Curiosity's original target of Murray Buttes because NASA believed the area would provide them with more scientific information, NBC News reported. The rover has already found earthy, gray-green-looking rocks that featured white materials with silica. These rocks were found under a layer of red Martian dust.
"We believe that this is a very important rock to drill. ... It means we're on to something new," Grotzinger said.
The mission received a "very good/good" rating, while a recent report from NASA's planetary senior review panel said the plan for Curiosity's mission "lacked scientific focus and detail."
Grotzinger responded to the review's criticism by saying the panel recommended that the rover focus on doing less driving and more drilling, The Los Angeles Times reported.
"I think that the recommendations of the review and what we want to do as a science team are going to align, because we have now arrived at Mt. Sharp, we are going to do a lot more drilling."
