The first high-resolution, focused images of Mount Sharp, released Monday, surprised scientists who realized that the mound has tilted layers of rock on top of layers that are positioned relatively horizontal.THE Mars rover Curiosity is indulging in a flurry of multimedia activity ahead of its science mission proper. It sent the first image from its 100mm telephoto lens, already spotting an intriguing geological “unconformity”. Nasa also released a color panorama of Mount Sharp, the rover's ultimate goal. On Monday, the rover relayed “the first voice recording to be sent from another planet”, and on Tuesday it broadcast a song from artist will.i.am as part of an educational event. But alongside these show pieces, Curiosity — also known as the Mars Science Laboratory — is already warming up its instruments for a science mission of unprecedented scope on the Red Planet. Nasa said that the rover was already returning more data from Mars than all of the agency's earlier rovers combined. It will eventually trundle to the base of Mount Sharp, the 5km-high peak at the center of Gale Crater, in which the rover touched down just over three weeks ago. For now it is examining the “scour marks” left by the rocket-powered crane that lowered the rover onto the planet's surface, giving some insight into what lies just below it. The rover will now employ its Dan instrument, which fires the subatomic particles neutrons at the surface to examine levels of hydrogen- and hydroxyl-containing minerals that could hint at Mars' prior water-rich history. Another tool in its arsenal, the ChemCam, which uses a laser to vapourise rock and then chemically examine the vapour, will also have a look at the scour marks. And the Sample Analysis at Mars or Sam instrument, itself a package of three analysis tools, has now been switched on and is being run through its paces ahead of “sniffing” the Martian atmosphere; the tests include analyzing a sample of Earth air that was left in it at launch. But what has caught the interest of Nasa engineers already is what is called an “unconformity” spotted in the rover's first images of Mount Sharp. The term refers to an evidently missing piece in the geological record, where one layer of sediment does not geologically neatly line up with that above it. Images from orbit had indicated that the lower foothills of Mount Sharp consisted of flat-lying sediments rich in “hydrated” minerals, formed in the presence of water, but that layers above seemed to lack the minerals. Now, the rover's Mastcam —which provided the new color panorama image — has taken a picture of the divide, showing sediments apparently deposited at a markedly different angle than those below them. Similar deposits on Earth can arise due to tectonic or volcanic activity. Further investigation will have to wait some time however, as Curiosity takes a bit of a side trip. — Agencies
