Video: This is what a day on Mars looks like, captured by NASA's Curiosity rover

At the beginning of November of this year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) decided to cancel sending instructions for the missions it carries out on Mars. The reason was very simple: at that time of year, Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the sun. “Like dancers on either side of a large bonfire, the two planets are temporarily invisible to each other,” NASA said. To solar conjunction, as this phenomenon is technically known. (can read: High energies have been discovered in the most distant active galactic nucleus ever)

The risks that occur during this period, which usually does not last more than two weeks, are the possibility that NASA missions will be affected, because the hot and ionized gas that is released from the solar corona “can corrupt the transmitted radio signals.” From Earth to NASA ships on Mars, causing unexpected behavior.

Although NASA's various mission activities on the Red Planet were significantly reduced during those days, the Curiosity rover team used the hours before conjunction to record, for the first time, 12 hours of footage for a single day. On Mars. The hope is to “capture clouds or dust devils that could reveal more about the climate” on the planet, the space agency said in a statement. (You may be interested in: Since December 15, it has shaken more than 1,200 times in Colombia)

NASA explains that the recordings began around 5:30 a.m. on November 8 of this year, the 4002nd Martian day of the mission. Curiosity's cameras were capturing images until 5:30 p.m.

In the first video, which you can see below, although no “noteworthy weather phenomenon” is observed, it shows “a silhouette of curiosity that changes as the day transitions from morning to afternoon to evening,” NASA says. This was recorded with the front camera pointing southeast of Gediz Valles. (You can also read: Why is fog so unpredictable? Scientists are working to achieve this)

“As the sky brightens during sunrise, the shadow of the rover's two-meter-long robotic arm shifts to the left, and Curiosity's front wheels emerge from the darkness on either side of the frame. A circular calibration target mounted on the shoulder of the robotic arm is also visible on the left,” NASA explains of the seconds The first of the video.

In the second video, captured with the rear camera, which points northwest “up the slopes of Mount Sharp to the floor of Gale Crater,” the rover's right rear wheel is visible, along with the shadow of Curiosity's power system. The small black artifact that appears on the left in the middle of the video, during frame 17, is the result of a cosmic ray hitting the camera sensor. Likewise, the bright flickering and other noise at the end of the video is the result of heat from the spacecraft's power system affecting the Hazcam's image sensor. (You may be interested in: In memory of: Scientists who died in 2023)