By CoinWeek ….
If you happen to’ve ever been fascinated by the truth that cash have traveled in house and that some have completely left the Earth to reside within the outer reaches of the Photo voltaic System, then this video is for you:
Mars Man is Dr. Steve Ruff, an Affiliate Analysis Professor at Arizona State College who makes a speciality of Martian geology and has a wealth of expertise with the scientific exploration of Mars. Collaborating with the NASA Infiniscope undertaking, his YouTube channel is devoted to the Perseverance rover (and Ingenuity helicopter) mission exploring Jezero crater. Amongst space-themed YouTubers, Dr. Ruff’s content material is pretty distinctive. He has a knack for presenting technical information to a well-liked viewers in comprehensible bite-sized quantities, and his use of himself for scale in his movies is a type of good concepts that appears so apparent looking back that you just surprise why nobody else does it.
On Sunday, January 19, Mars Man launched a video in regards to the Philadelphia Mint 1909 V.D.B. Lincoln Wheat penny getting used as a digicam calibration goal for the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) (geologists having used cash on this method prior to now) on the Curiosity rover in Gale crater. Imager Principal Investigator Kenneth Edgett selected the 1909 V.D.B. because the calibration goal as a result of the well-known coin was struck 100 years earlier than the rover’s unique launch date of 2009. Its launch was finally delayed till 2011, with the rover touching down on Martian soil in August 2012.
The primary picture of the Lincoln Wheat Cent was captured on September 9, 2012, with some mud already on the coin from the touchdown’s blowback. Over the following decade, “Trustworthy Abe” has endured freezing temperatures and quite a few cycles of mud protection and cleansing – together with a corrosive international mud storm that killed the solar-powered Alternative rover.
This video offers a one-of-a-kind visible historical past of Mars’ results on the 1909 penny, and it might be attention-grabbing to listen to knowledgeable grader’s tackle the state of the coin. Maybe grading firms can use this and pictures prefer it that may little question exist quickly to develop requirements for future “environmental injury” certification of cash on different planets.
For now, when you’re something like us, you’ll go for the numismatics however keep for the areology.

Cheers!
* * *