Map of Gale Crater withAeolis Mons rising from the middle of the crater. TheCuriosity rover landing ellipse is shown on the northwestern crater floor, namedAeolis Palus.[2][3][4]
The NASAMars Science Laboratory mission landed theCuriosity rover on Aeolis Palus in August 2012.Curiosity spent two (Earth) years exploring the plain as it drove towards Aeolis Mons. The rover left the plain in September 2014 when it reached the mountain's foothills.[5]
On August 5, 2012, at 10:32 p.m. PDT/mission time (August 6, 2012, at 5:32 UTC), mission control atJPL received a signal from the NASACuriosity rover that it had successfully landed in "Yellowknife"Quad 51[6][7][8][9] ofAeolis Palus.[10] The rover's mission is to explore the surface area of Gale Crater focusing first near its landing site onAeolis Palus and then venturing into the nearby foothills ofAeolis Mons (unofficially, "Mount Sharp") to investigate its geological features and strata.[2][3][4][11]
On September 26, 2013, NASA scientists reported theMarsCuriosity rover detected "abundant, easily accessible"water (1.5 to 3 weight percent) insoil samples at theRocknest region ofAeolis Palus inGale Crater.[12][13][14][15][16][17] In addition, NASA reported the rover found two principal soil types: a fine-grainedmafic type and a locally derived, coarse-grainedfelsic type.[14][16][18] The mafic type, similar to othermartian soils andmartian dust, was associated with hydration of the amorphous phases of the soil.[18] Also,perchlorates, the presence of which may make detection of life-relatedorganic molecules difficult, were found at theCuriosity rover landing site (and earlier at the more polar site of thePhoenix lander) suggesting a "global distribution of these salts".[17] NASA also reported thatJake M rock, a rock encountered byCuriosity on the way toGlenelg, was amugearite and very similar to terrestrial mugearite rocks.[19]
On December 9, 2013, NASA reported that, based on evidence fromCuriosity studying Aeolis Palus,Gale Crater contained an ancientfreshwater lake which could have been a hospitable environment formicrobial life.[20][21]
On December 16, 2014, NASA reported detecting, based on measurements by theCuriosity rover, an unusual increase, then decrease, in the amounts ofmethane in theatmosphere of the planetMars; in addition,organic chemicals were detected in powder drilled from arock by theCuriosity rover. Also, based ondeuterium tohydrogen ratio studies, much of thewater atGale Crater on Mars was found to have been lost during ancient times, before the lakebed in the crater was formed; afterwards, large amounts of water continued to be lost.[22][23][24]
"Bradbury Landing" is a named location onAeolis Palus. It is where theCuriosity roverlanded.[25][26] The coordinates of the landing site are:4°35′22″S137°26′30″E / 4.5895°S 137.4417°E /-4.5895; 137.4417.[27][28] The landing site location was named for science fiction authorRay Bradbury.[26] NASA announced the name on Bradbury's 92nd birthday, August 22, in honor of the author who died a few months earlier on June 5, 2012.[26] Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist forCuriosity, said "This was not a difficult choice for the science team. Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars."[26] Bradbury wrote a collection of stories calledThe Martian Chronicles in the 1940s.[26] TheCuriosity team left a message onTwitter "In tribute, I dedicate my landing spot on Mars to you, Ray Bradbury. Greetings from Bradbury Landing!"[26] NASA released a video of Bradbury reading his poem "If Only We Had Taller Been".[29][30]
![Ancient Lake on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater - possible size (December 9, 2013).[20][21]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPIA17596-MarsCuriosityRover-AncientLake-20131209.jpg)
![MSL debris field viewed by HiRISE on August 17, 2012 - parachute is 615 m (2,018 ft) from the rover.[31] (3-D: rover and parachute)](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPIA15696-HiRISE-MSL-Sol11_2_-br2.jpg)
_-_HiRISE_-_20120814.jpg)
