Friday

In January 2021, Mars Science Laboratory passed the milestone of 3000 sols of rover operations in Gale Crater. The rover is currently situated on what the science team regard as the beginning of a transition into the Sulfate Unit. This mineralogical change probably marks the key transition in Mars’ evolution from ‘Warm and Wet’ to today’s cold and dry environment, and is likely to be one of the most important parts of MSL’s studies. The underlying clay-bearing unit and Vera Rubin ridge, both part of the Murray formation, show the lacustrine-dominated deposition in a habitable environment, with sediment thickness reaching over 400 m, which has been a key feature over much of the rover’s 25 km traverse.

Within the last year MSL has also studied the Greenheugh Unit – a pediment that extends out from Gediz Valles and Aeolis Mons. The Greenheugh pediment unconformably overlies the clay-bearing unit in Glen Torridon, was deposited in an aeolian environment, and is one of the youngest geological units in Gale Crater. With continuing successful drilling and rover analyses, more information is becoming available about groundwater-sediment reactions and the related mineralogical record. This not only provides a unique insight into Mars’ evolution at Gale Crater but is an important analogue for what can be expected at other Mars landing sites, notably the fine grained, clay-bearing sediments at Oxia Planum, the 2023 landing site for the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover.