Mars Opportunity Graphic (IMAGE)

Johns Hopkins University

Mars Opportunity Graphic

Caption

As Curiosity ascends Mount Sharp, getting farther from the center of Mars, the gravitational pull of the planet gets very slightly weaker. Measurements using the rover's accelerometers (gray) show, however, that the gravity is not falling off as fast as expected from its change in elevation. The difference between the predicted (dashed black line) and modeled (solid black line) results from the additional downward pull of the mass of Mount Sharp itself, allowing the researchers to estimate the density of the rocks beneath the rover.

Credit

Kevin Lewis/JHU

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