New York, Aug 20: NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity might need to realize a new route to its destination Mount Sharp when getting stuck in sand in the “Hidden Valley”.
The one-tonne Curiosity is on a mission to Mount Sharp, a 5.5 km high mountain within the centre of Mars’ gale Crater, and had to show back when finding the sand surprisingly slippery, reports space.com.
“We ought to gain an improved understanding of the interaction between the wheels and Martian sand ripples, and ‘Hidden Valley’ isn’t a decent location for experimenting,” Jim Erickson, Curiosity project manager, was quoted as saying.
The goal of the six-wheeled Curiosity is to climb up Mount Sharp foothills and browse the history of change from a heat and wet planet within the past to the cold, dry Mars of today.
Curiosity has lined regarding eight km of the way to Mount Sharp and has regarding 3.2 km to go, that the team hopes to induce to by the top of 2014.
