Curiosity passes 5,000 sols and a kilometre of climb in Gale crater
Curiosity has completed 5,000 Martian days since landing in Gale crater and climbed one kilometre above its touchdown elevation. As it crossed both milestones, the rover was examining a long ripple called Chocolatal high on Mount Sharp. Its instruments are testing whether the feature is a wind-built transverse aeolian ridge and whether its material differs from comparable ridges lower on the mountain.
Science··Evening
Two milestones arrived in the same week
NASA’s mission log says Curiosity completed its 5,000th Martian day since landing in Gale crater on August 29. Because a sol lasts 24.6 hours, that interval exceeds 5,137 Earth days. During the same period the rover also passed one kilometre of elevation gain above its landing point on the crater floor. NASA compares that climb with the 106 metres Spirit gained on its way to the summit of Husband Hill. The figure records Curiosity’s long vertical progress up the slopes of Mount Sharp.[1]
Chocolatal carries a record of the wind
The science target surrounding the milestones is a long, narrow ripple named Chocolatal. Transverse aeolian ridges seen in orbital images across Mars have long axes oriented perpendicular to the prevailing local wind. Curiosity’s team is testing whether Chocolatal belongs to that class while measuring its grain sizes and layering. Its position higher on Mount Sharp supplies a new comparison point for checking whether the material composition found in similar ridges lower on the mountain persists at greater elevation.[1]
A wheel trench opened the surface to measurement
Midweek, the rover drove one wheel into Chocolatal and backed away slightly, cutting a trench through the ripple. MAHLI then imaged the trench wall for layering and grain-size changes; APXS measured the surface composition, while ChemCam sampled the crest, a dark band and the back of the scuff. The three-sol plan also included Mastcam mosaics, dust-devil and above-horizon surveys, and atmospheric measurements. The mission-age milestones were therefore recorded while an active geology and atmospheric programme continued around the rover.[1]
