Geddes Valley Ridge, believed to be the remains of a powerful ancient debris flow, is a destination the rover’s science team has been searching for for years.
3 billion years ago, during Earth’s last wet period Mars, a powerful debris flow carried mud and rocks up the side of a huge mountain. The debris fanned out and was then eroded by winds into towering ridges, preserving a fascinating record of Mars’ watery past.
Journey to the Ridge of Curiosity
Now, after 3 tries, NASAMars rover Curiosity reached the ridge and captured a 360-degree panoramic mosaic of its formations. Previous incursions have been hampered by knife-edge “crocodile-back” rocks and steep slopes. After one of the most difficult climbs the mission has ever faced, Curiosity reached an area on August 14 where its 7-foot (2-meter) robotic arm could survey the long-sought ridge.
Drag your cursor in this 360-degree video to explore the view captured by NASA’s Curiosity Mastcam while the Mars rover was parked next to Geddes Vallis Ridge. Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology/MSSS/University of California, Berkeley
“After three years, we have finally found a place on Mars where Curiosity can safely access a rugged ridge,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. he said. “It’s a thrill to be able to reach out and touch a stone that comes from high up on Mount Sharp, a place Curiosity will never be able to visit.”
Discovery at Mt Sharp
The rover has been climbing the lower part of the 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) Mount Sharp since 2014, discovering evidence of ancient lakes and rivers along the way. The different layers of the mountain represent different eras of Mars’ history. As curiosity grows, scientists learn more about how the landscape has changed over time. Geddes Valley Ridge is one of the last features to form on this mountain, and one of the most recent geological time capsules Curiosity will see.
Valuable insights and future initiatives
The rover spent 11 days on the ridge, busily taking photos and studying the composition of the black rock, which apparently occurred elsewhere on the mountain. The debris flows that helped form the Geddes Valley ridge carried these rocks and the lower ridgeline rocks, some as large as cars, down from the higher levels of Mount Sharp. These rocks provide valuable insight into the material in the upper mountain that Curiosity can investigate.
The rover’s arrival on the ridge gave scientists their first close-up look at the eroded remains of geological formations known as debris fans, which are fans of debris flowing down the slopes. Debris flow fans are common on both Mars and Earth, but scientists are still studying how they form.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to witness these events,” said geologist William Dietrich, a member of the expedition. University of California, Berkeley, who helped lead Curiosity’s research into the ridge. “Giant boulders were ripped off the mountain above, rolled down the slope, and fanned out below. The results of this campaign made it possible for such an event to occur not only on Mars, but even on Earth, where it is a natural disaster. You will be able to explain it better.”
On August 19, the rover’s mast camera stitched together a mosaic of 136 images of the Geddes Vallis Ridge scene, providing a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. The panorama shows the path Curiosity followed down the mountainside, including the Marker Band Valley, where traces of an ancient lake were discovered.
While scientists are still sifting through images and data from the Geddes Valley Ridge, Curiosity has already begun its next task. It’s about finding a way to a channel atop the ridge so scientists can learn more about where and how water once flowed down Mount Sharp.
Mission details
Curiosity was built by JPL, managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. JPL is leading the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.