NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Hits the Road to Mount Sharp

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover is on the road again, continuing its trek across the Red Planet. With drives on July 4 and July 7, the rover departed its last scientists target in the "Glenelg" area and has begun its many-month overland journey to its next destination--Mount Sharp.

Mount Sharp is in the middle of Gale Crater, a massive pit on the surface of Mars that houses the three-mile-high mound that Curiosity will explore. Mount Sharp actually possesses layered materials made of different minerals, depending on their height. Researchers hope that these different layers could reveal more about the history of Mars. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that flowing water appears to have carved channels in both the mound and the crater wall. If that's the case, the mountain could actually possess traces of life that was present in the planet's distant past--and may even hold evidence of microbial life.

The rover has just finished up a close-up investigation of a target sedimentary outcrop called "Shaler." After completing its mission, Curiosity drove 59 feet on July 4 away from the site and then drove an additional 131 feet on July 7. The rover will eventually continue this trek, journeying about five miles to the entry to the lower layers of Mount Sharp in the coming months.

So far, Curiosity has made some amazing findings, despite only being on the Red Planet for less than a year. It's discovered evidence of streams on Mars and has collected rock samples for study. In the Glenelg area, where the rover worked for the first half of 2013, it even found evidence of an ancient, wet environment that had conditions favorable to microbial life in the distant past.

Currently, researchers are analyzing the data that the rover has sent back. The findings that this data could generate could mean a better understanding of Mars and of how our solar system formed. For now, though, scientists anxiously await for Curiosity to arrive at its new destination.

Want to learn more about Curiosity and follow its latest missions? You can check it out here.