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SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017
Textures where Curiosity rover studied a Martian dune.
This view from the Mastcam on Curiosity shows two scales of ripples, plus other textures, in an area where the
mission examined a linear-shaped dune in the Bagnold dune field on lower Mount Sharp. The scene is an excerpt
from a 360-degree panorama acquired on March 24 and March 25, 2017, (PST) during the 1,647
th
sol of Curiosity's
work on Mars, at a location called “Ogunquit Beach.”
Crests of the longer ripples visible in the dark sand of the dune are several feet (a few meters) apart. This medium-
scale feature in active sand dunes on Mars was one of Curiosity's findings at the crescent-shaped dunes that the
rover examined in late 2015 and early 2016. Ripples that scale are not seen on Earth's sand dunes. Overlaid on
Rover point of view: Five years of Curiosity on Mars.
Five years of images from the front left Curiosity's
hazard avoidance camera (Hazcam) were used to cre-
ate this time-lapse movie. The inset map shows the
rover's location in Mars' Gale Crater. Each image is la-
beled with the date it was taken, and its correspond-
ing sol, along with information about the rover's
location at the time. [NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS]
