Mars Rover Curiosity Visits ‘Cooperstown’

MARS – The Mars Rover Curiosity just completed it’s first two-day autonomous drive on Monday, Dec. 8, and, like many tourists, stopped by Cooperstown — but it’s a Cooperstown a long way from home.

‘Cooperstown’ is NASA’s name for a rocky outcropping on Mars that bears candidates for examination with the instruments on Curiosity’s arm.  These studies will help assess the geology of the main destination for the rover, an outcropping known as Mount Sharp.

“What interests us about this site is an intriguing outcrop of layered material visible in the orbital images,” said Kevin Lewis of Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., a participating scientist for the mission who has been a leader in planning the Cooperstown activities. “We want to see how the local layered outcrop at Cooperstown may help us relate the geology of Yellowknife Bay to the geology of Mount Sharp.”

For more information on the Mars Rover’s mission, click here.