--- title: "NASA Rover Starts New “Road Trip” Across Martian Wasteland" description: "NASA's Curiosity rover is about to embark on an epic new adventure at Mount Sharp, a gigantic mountain on Mars, to look for signs of ancient life." date: "2020-07-08" modified: "2020-07-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-mars-curiosity-rover-road-trip" categories: - "NASA" - "Science & Energy" - "Space" tags: - "curiosity" - "mars" - "Mount Sharp" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # NASA Rover Starts New “Road Trip” Across Martian Wasteland ![NASA's Curiosity rover is about to embark on an epic new adventure at Mount Sharp, a gigantic mountain on Mars, to look for signs of ancient life.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Adventure Time NASA's Curiosity rover is about to embark on a new adventure at Mount Sharp, a gigantic summit on Mars. The trip, which the space agency dubbed the rover's "summer road trip" in an [official announcement](), will involve crossing about a mile of Martian wasteland to get to its next section. The rover has been exploring the unusual 3 mile-tall mountain since 2014 to look for signs of ancient microbial life. The mountain is located on the floor of the massive 96 miles across Gale Crater, what is believed to be a dried up ancient lake bed. ## Still Salty The mountain, formally known as Aeolis Mons, is made up of numerous layers of sediment that could give us clues about the formation and history of the Red Planet. Curiosity's next stop is what's dubbed the "sulfate-bearing unit." As its nickname suggests, the area holds various sulfates, including gypsum and Epsom salts, which conventionally form as water evaporates. ## Autobot But to get there, Curiosity's road trip will take it around a treacherously sandy area to avoid the risk of getting stuck — and it will do so mostly by itself. "Curiosity can't drive entirely without humans in the loop," Matt Gildner, lead rover driver at JPL, said in the announcement. "But it does have the ability to make simple decisions along the way to avoid large rocks or risky terrain. It stops if it doesn't have enough information to complete a drive on its own." In a matter of weeks, if all goes well, NASA will launch its next Mars rover, Perseverance, into space on the long journey to Mars to assist in the search for ancient microbial life. **READ MORE:** [NASA's Curiosity rover kicks off epic 'summer road trip' across Mars]() \[*CNET*\] **More on Mars rovers:** *[NASA Pushes Back Mars Rover Launch Due to “Contamination Concern”]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()