Glenelg, Mars
Location on Mars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glenelg (or Glenelg Intrigue) is a location on Mars near the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover) landing site (Bradbury Landing) in Gale Crater marked by a natural intersection of three kinds of terrain.[1][2]
Name
The location was named Glenelg by NASA scientists for two reasons: all features in the immediate vicinity were given names associated with Yellowknife in northern Canada, and Glenelg is the name of a geological feature there. Furthermore, the name is a palindrome, and as the Curiosity rover is planned to visit the location twice (once coming, and once going) this was an appealing feature for the name.[3] The original Glenelg is a village in Scotland which on 20 October 2012 had a ceremony, including a live link to NASA, to celebrate their "twinning" with Glenelg on Mars.[4]
The trek to Glenelg will send the rover 400 m (1,300 ft) east-southeast of its landing site. One of the three types of terrain intersecting at Glenelg is layered bedrock, which is attractive as the first drilling target.[citation needed]
Images
First-year and first-mile traverse map of the Curiosity rover on Mars (1 August 2013) (3-D).
Curiosity's view of the Glenelg Area – where three terrains merge (19 September 2012).
"Shaler" rock outcrop near the Glenelg Area on Mars - as viewed by the MastCam on the Curiosity rover (7 December 2012).
