Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2021

28 MARCH-APRIL 2021 MARS ROVERS A detailed view of layers in Vera Rubin Ridge from just below the ridge. The scene combines 70 images taken with the Mastcam. [NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS] T his view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows finely layered rocks within the Murray Buttes re- gion on lower Mount Sharp. [NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS] soils to determine their composition and past interactions with water. All the rock, soil and air samples col- lected by Curiosity during the explo- ration of Gale Crater have been analyzed in its internal laboratory. This allows the rover to assess with increasing accuracy whether Mars ever had an environment capable of supporting microbial life. The Mars Science Laboratory mission and its Curiosity rover mark a tran- sition between the "follow the water" and "seek signs of life" strategies. In addition to landing in a place with traces of the presence of water in the distant past, Curios- ity is looking for evidence of or- ganic substances, the chemical building blocks of life. Places with water and the chemistry necessary for life potentially provide habit- able conditions. Thanks to this rover, NASA is close to achieving the four main scientific goals of the en- tire Mars Exploration Program. The first goal is to determine if life ever appeared on Mars. To under- surface. The history of Martian cli- mate and geology is written in the chemistry and structure of rocks and soil. Curiosity is able to read the pages of that story, analyzing dust samples obtained from rock drilling and measuring the chemical foot- prints present in different rocks and just 20 kilometers; ensuring long- range mobility on Mars for the study of different environments and the analysis of samples found in different environments. Curiosity carries larger and more ad- vanced scientific instruments than those previously sent to the Martian