NASA's Curiosity rover is now crossing the Bagnold Dunes on the northwestern edge of
Mount Sharp (
Aeolis Mons), an 18,000 foot high mountain (a bit smaller than
Mount Kilimanjaro, about the same size as
Mount McKinley).
Wiki on Curiosity's current status:
As of November 30, 2015, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for 1179 sols (1211 days) since landing on August 6, 2012.
The mountain sits at the centre of the planet's
Gale Crater and is named for geomorphologist
Robert P. Sharp (1911-2004), an expert on the geological surfaces of Earth and Mars.
Mount Sharp "is the 15000th named feature" in the
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, a
list of all topographical features named in the solar system with the approval of the
International Astronomical Union. Yes, the mountain's dune belt made me think of
this opening film sequence.
NASA/JPL: "The dark band in the lower portion of this Martian scene is part of the 'Bagnold Dunes' dune field lining the northwestern edge of Mount Sharp, inside Gale Crater. The view combines multiple images taken with the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Sept. 25, 2015, during the 1,115th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. ... The view is toward south-southeast. Curiosity will visit examples of the Bagnold Dunes on the rover's route to higher layers of Mount Sharp. The informal name for the dune field is a tribute to British military engineer Ralph Bagnold (1896-1990), a pioneer in the study of how winds move sand particles of dunes on Earth." Images Source: NASA/JPL.
