The images in this video are all real
photographs taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. In this video we will climb a
Martian mountain. So sit back, relax and imagine what it might be like to set
foot on Mars, courtesy of the Curiosity rover. The places that NASA has explored
have all been given names which you will see on screen in the bottom left corner.
Landing in 2012 the mission was only supposed to last for two years, yet due
to the great success of the rover it was extended indefinitely. At the start of
2020 the Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars for almost eight years.
Pictures are regularly beamed back to earth for scientists to study. This image
shows the effects of roaming Mars for eight years. Covered in Martian dust, but
still determined to carry on. After a risky flight, Curiosity safely lands in
the Gale Crater, an ancient impact site thought to have been filled with water
and sediment in the past. Over time the strong winds have carved away the
sediment and left a three mile high mountain known as Mount sharp. NASA now
has a big challenge to find a way to get Curiosity up the mountain. Using data
from orbiting spacecraft and combining it with pictures from curiosity the team
puts together a 3D map of the terrain. Each path up Mount sharp is risky, but
scientists finally agree on a route. This path will take curiosity past some sites
of interest on its way up. First stop: Yellowknife Bay The area here looks to be made up of
sedimentary deposits. The science team concludes that this crater was once home
to a large amount of water. This is curiosity's first major finding. Curiosity now turns its focus towards
Mount sharp, beginning its two-year long journey towards the Pahrump Hills at the
mountains base. Passing a site named the 'Kimberley Formation', Curiosity stops to
take some pictures. Again, the sediments found here confirm the crater was once
a watery place. Curiosity also passed a site named 'Garden City', an outcrop with huge mineral veins winding across the surface. Curiosity studied these veins,
sending valuable data back to earth for geologists to scrutinize. Curiosity stops
to take a picture of the Martian sunset which is actually blue on Mars unlike
the red sunsets we see here on earth Scientists believe this is due to the
fine particles in Mars' atmosphere which permit more blue light than here on
Earth. This image, of what is known as 'whale rock' shows an example of
cross-bedding that results from water passing over a loose bed of sediment As curiosity says goodbye to the 'Pahrump
Hills' it heads towards one of the most interesting regions so far: the 'Bagnold
dunes'. This dune named 'Namib dune' stands at about 13 feet. The Bagnold dunes were
the first dunes ever to be examined up close on another world. NASA took great
care when crossing the dunes as to avoid the fate of another previous rover
'Spirit', which became trapped in a sand dune during its journey. The chosen path
up Mount sharp will take curiosity out of the Bagnold dunes crossing through the
'Naukluft Plateau' into a territory called 'Murray Buttes'
before traversing back into the Bagnold dunes. 'Naukluft Plateau', the entrance to
Murray buttes is marked by two tall sediment structures, which curiosity will
have to pass through. This image was also taken on the fourth anniversary of
curiosity's landing or its fourth birthday. The team at NASA had curiosity
sing happy birthday to itself. Curiosity studied these structures up close while
passing. This one, named the 'Stimson Formation' is an ancient remnant of
eroded sandstone that originated when winds deposited sands, after lower Mount
sharp had formed. This layering within the sandstone is called cross-bedding
and indicates that the sandstone was deposited by wind as sand dunes migrated. As curiosity waves goodbye to 'Murray
Buttes' and continues the long journey up Mount Sharp, it comes across an
interesting Hill named 'Ireson Hill'. Standing at about 16 feet,
this alien-looking hill provides a great view from Mars. Crossing over more sand
dunes curiosity comes across a region known as 'Ogunquit Beach'. The large
crests present on the dunes combined with the smaller ripples are not seen
anywhere on earth making these dunes the strangest ever studied The determined Rover now heads towards
its highest point yet, a ridge known as 'Vera Rubin Ridge'. The repeated beds on
the rocks indicate progressive accumulation of sediments that now make
up the lower part of Mount Sharp. Although from this distance it is not
possible to know if they were formed by aqueous or windblown processes. Curiosity
will have to get closer. As curiosity climbs Vera Rubin Ridge scientists
determined that the structures here were formed due to wind erosion and by being
more resistant to the erosion than the rocks surrounding the ridge, some strange
formations have been created. As Curiosity reaches the top of the ridge
the view is incredible. It shows the rover's journey so far from
where we started in the gale crater. In the distance is the northern rim of the
Gale Crater with Mount sharp standing at five kilometres high behind Curiosity. In June 2018 however, a global scale dust
storm hits Mars and damages Curiosity's fellow rover 'Opportunity', which is
exploring a different region of Mars far far away. This image shows the difference
in the sky over just three days from Curiosity's perspective in one of the
least affected regions of the dust storm As the storm subsides, curiosity turns to
look uphill at Mount sharp and spots a region of clay which could give more
clues about how water helped to shape this area. Curiosity takes a selfie at a
site known as Glen Etive, this is done using the camera on the rover's robotic
arm, 57 individual images are then stitched together and the arm is
digitally removed from the final image providing a perfect view of Curiosity. As
Curiosity traverses the clay bearing unit it comes across a site named 'Teal
Ridge'. The samples that Curiosity took in the clay bearing unit have proved to
contain the most amount of clay ever found on Mars which signals a strong
presence of water in the ancient past. At the time of making this video
curiosity is still climbing Mount sharp now heading towards an area known as
'Western Butte'. Curiosity's journey is still ongoing as of 2020 but it's not
the only story of exploration on Mars. Curiosity's older sibling Opportunity
stopped contacting NASA in 2018 after sending one last spooky message. The last
message NASA received from Opportunity was: 'My battery is low and it's getting
dark'. Click here to find out what happened to opportunity on Mars and if
we can still save the rover. Thanks for watching ElderFox. Remember to subscribe
and hit the bell to keep up to date with Curiosity's journey.
I'm on holiday in Tenerife and it looks just the same, except for the lack of naked Germans on the beach.
This is so amazing to me. It looks like it could be here on earth, not so different from Death Valley, minus any flora and fauna.
We have pictures of Mars, do we have any video from its surface? If not, is it possible?
It’s amazing that Curiosity is still working after 8 years