After several attempts, Curiosity rover reaches Mars Ridge

Mount Sharp stands at a height of three miles (roughly five kilometers), which the robotic explorer has been steadily climbing since 2014.

A mosaic of 136 images

Martian geological features, such as this ridge, hold significant interest for planetary scientists, as they have the potential to offer valuable insights into the planet's geological history and evolutionary processes.

The Gediz Vallis Ridge represents one of the last features (or most recent) to form on Mount Sharp. 

Notably, this ridge is believed to preserve evidence from one of Mars' last known wet episodes around three billion years ago.

Curiosity's Mastcam snapped up to 136 separate photos on August 19, stitched together to create this stunning 360-degree panoramic mosaic. 

This detailed mosaic provides a close-up view, showcasing important landscape elements of the ridge, including the existence of transported dark rocks.

Apart from taking images, the rover spent 11 days collecting science data and analyzing soil samples of this ridge using its 7-foot (2-meter) robotic arm. 

It also examined the composition of peculiar dark rocks found at this ridge. The different tint indicates that it was formed somewhere else on the mountain. 

“The debris flows that helped form Gediz Vallis Ridge carried these rocks – and others lower on the ridgeline, some as large as cars – down from layers high on Mount Sharp,” mentioned NASA. 

The science team also obtained their first-ever close glimpse of the weathered remains of a geological structure called a debris flow fan. As the name implies, the material that descended from the mountain's summit scattered and settled, taking on a shape resembling that of a "fan."

Debris flow fans are said to be common features found on both Mars and Earth; nevertheless, scientists are still in the process of unraveling the mechanisms behind their formation.

“I can’t imagine what it would have been like to witness these events,” said William Dietrich, geologist and a mission team member at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the scientific examination of the ridge.

“Huge rocks were ripped out of the mountain high above, rushed downhill, and spread out into a fan below. The results of this campaign will push us to better explain such events not just on Mars, but even on Earth, where they are a natural hazard,” Dietrich added. 

The mission team is presently analyzing a large set of data and images from this Martian site taken by the rover. 

Meanwhile, Curiosity is preparing to carry out its next task: to find a route leading to the canal above the ridge. This will enable scientists to delve deeper into understanding the dynamics of how and where water once coursed down Mount Sharp.