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These Martian Dunes Look Jaw-Dropping In New Mars Rover Photo
The Martian surface is constantly fascinating, and thanks to a new photo from NASA's famous Perseverance rover, that point is being driven home once more. For a planet that's extremely barren and dangerous to human life, Mars has generated endless fascination over the years. Whether scientists are hunting for signs of microscopic life or people believe green aliens roam the planet, it's safe to say there's a huge interest in what's happening on Mars and the space surrounding it.
Wanting to answer some of the planet's biggest questions once and for all, NASA has been hard at work attempting to do just that. Curiosity was tasked with exploring Mars' Gale Crater, InSight is studying the internal makeup of the planet, and Perseverance is searching for ancient life that once lived there. These remote missions require a tremendous amount of time and planning, but the end results are always more than worth it.
During one of its recent travels on the Martian surface, Perseverance captured and shared the above photo of its dunes. Being the cold and dusty planet it is, Mars is absolutely filled with these dunes. This particular photo offers an incredible look at just how beautiful they can really be. Perseverance showcases the fine details in the Martian dust/sand, the varying size of the dunes, and the detailed patterns caused by Mars' wind. Science has long told us that this is what much of Mars looks like, but seeing it up close and personal with these types of photos is still quite impressive. Perseverance captured the photo on September 25, 2021, using its Right Navigation Camera.
Keep An Eye On Perseverance's Image Of The Week
If the photo is a few days old, why is it just now getting its time in the spotlight? Whenever Perseverance uploads new photos, it does so with hundreds at a time. That's why after landing on Mars in February, Perseverance has already taken nearly 149,000 different photos. To help folks sift through everything and highlight the best of the best, NASA showcases one photo every week with its Image of the Week program.
Whenever Perseverance shares new pictures, users can view them and vote for which is their favorite. Once all the votes are counted, the photo with the most votes is featured as that latest Image of the Week. For the week of September 26 - October 2, this dune photo at the top of the article was the winner — and it's easy to see why. The week before saw the above Mars rock photo featured as the Image of the Week. It's a much different picture, yet equally impressive for different reasons. It provides an incredible look at Mars' many rocks, including their fine detail, differing sizes, and more.
