NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has arrived at the Gediz Vallis channel, an area that resembles a winding, dry riverbed, to explore the history of water on the Red Planet.
After arriving at the Gediz Vallis channel, the Curiosity rover captured the following view of the channel using one of its black-and-white navigation cameras on February 3, 2024.
The Curiosity rover will explore this area for several months, as the rover team is eager to know whether the channel was carved by debris flows (rapid, wet landslides) or an ancient river carrying rocks and sediment.
Planet Mars had a thick atmosphere a few billion years ago, and the temperature of the planet was just right to hold liquid water on its surface.
Over time, this thick atmosphere has evaporated, and currently, the average temperature of Mars is -85°F (-65°C), which is too cold to hold liquid water on its surface.
NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on the Gale crater of Mars on August 6, 2012, and since 2014, the rover has traveled 3 miles (5 kilometers) to explore the Gediz Vallis channel, which is located at the foothills of Mount Sharp.
The rover team doesn’t think that the flow of wind made this Gediz Vallis channel, as the sides of the channel are steep enough.
So if an ancient Martian river created this channel or carried these boulders and debris on the channel, then it could reveal more information about exactly when liquid water disappeared from the Red Planet’s surface.
Related article: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captures ancient river beds on Mars
Currently, NASA’s two rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, are operating on Mars. Curiosity is exploring the Gale crater, while Perseverance is exploring the Jezero crater.
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