NASA's Mars rover Curiosity may be making its most daring trek to date. It's set to drive over the largest sand dune it's encountered so far. Once over this obstacle, the rover will reach a valley with fewer sharp rocks and hazards. But Curiosity isn't in the clear yet.
Operators are somewhat nervous about this sand dune challenge. Under a similar situation, NASA's Spirit rover was actually lost in a sand trap in 2009. One of the rover's wheels broke through the crusty surface of the planet and became stuck in the soft sand beneath. Needless to say, the Curiosity team wants to make sure that this doesn't happen again. That's why they're approaching this mission with all necessary caution.
Currently, NASA plans to drive Curiosity to the top of the dune, which is three feet tall, this week. Once at the top, the rover will take pictures of the valley in front of it, according to Computer World. In order to make sure that nothing disastrous happens, though, the rover will first be commanded to climb only halfway up the dune in order to see how it handles, according to BBC News.
After the rover tops the dune, NASA will drive Curiosity toward a location called KMS-9. There, the rover will drill into freshly exposed bedrock in hopes of finding traces of complex carbon chemistry. Any signatures found would add to the picture being built of Gale crater, which may have been a site where microbial life flourished billions of years ago, according to BBC News.
Currently, operators are working on positioning the rover for this latest feat. Hopefully, Curiosity will make the trip safely, and continue to uncover more information about the Red Planet.
