Mars Rover Curiosity Conducts First-Ever Close Study of Alien Sand Dunes

The Mars rover Curiosity made discoveries after it's conducted its first ever up-close study of extraterrestrial sand dunes. The rover is now providing dramatic views of a dune's steep face, where cascading sand has sculpted very different textures than the wavy ripples visible on the dune's windward slope.

In this latest effort, researchers are using Curiosity to examine examples of the Bagnold Dunes, a band of dark sand dunes lining the northwestern flank of Mt. Sharp, the layered mountain that the rover is climbing.

A characteristic that sets true dunes apart from other wind-shaped bodies of sand, such as drifts and ripples, is a steep, downward slope known as the slip face. Here, sand blowing across the windward side of the dune suddenly becomes sheltered from the wind by the dune itself; the sand falls out of the air and builds up on the slope until it becomes steepened and flows in mini-avalanches down the face.

The mission's dune-investigation campaign is designed to increase understanding about how wind moves and sorts grains of sand in an environment with less gravity and much less atmosphere than well-studied dune fields on Earth.

The Bagnold Dunes are active. And while Curiosity has not caught a sand slide in action, the rover's images of the Namib Dune slip face show where these slides have occurred recently. These dunes are likely active in Mars' southern summer, rather than in the current late-fall season.

The findings reveal a bit more about these dunes, and tell researchers a bit more about these dunes, which may reveal a bit more about the geology of Mars.

For more information about the Mars Curiosity rover, visit NASA's website.

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