Gale Crater

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 56th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Oct. 2, 2012).

Standing atop a payload transporter, the Atlas V rocket payload fairing containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft rolls out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy S...

NASA's Curiosity Mars took this image with its Mastcam on Feb. 10, 2019 (Sol 2316). The rover is currently exploring a region of Mount Sharp nicknamed "Glen Torridon" that has lots of clay minerals.

Scientists get closer to selecting a landing site for the Curiosity rover.

John Grotzinger is standing at the face of a cliff and in discussion with two other team members. The cliff, which is beige and gray in color, has many layers in the rocks. Ken Edgett, wearing a ba...

This image shows the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Curiosity rover, with the Martian landscape in the background.

A conventional X-ray diffraction instrument (left) is the size of a large refrigerator, in contrast to the compact size of the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover...

This image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a portion of the pale rock outcrop that includes the "Bonanza King" target chosen for evaluation as the mission's four...

A NASA Mars Science Laboratory test rover called the Vehicle System Test Bed, or VSTB, serves as the closest double for Curiosity in evaluations of the mission's hardware and software.

Mars Science Laboratory mission team members ran mobility tests on California sand dunes in early May 2012 in preparation for operating the Curiosity rover, currently en route to Mars, after its la...

Technicians and engineers in clean-room garb monitor the first drive test of NASA's Curiosity rover, on July 23, 2010.

"Vera Rubin Ridge," a favored destination for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover even before the rover landed in 2012, rises near the rover nearly five years later in this panorama from Curiosity's Mast C...

This graphic maps the first 14 sites where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover collected rock or soil samples for analysis using the rover's onboard laboratory. It also presents images of the drilled holes...

This image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover reveals details of a bedrock discoloration pattern at a site between "Marias Pass" and "Bridger Basin." The discoloration is not associated with individu...

The 70m antenna at Goldstone, California against the background of the Mojave desert.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this sequence of views of the sun setting at the close of the mission's 956th Martian day, or sol (April 15, 2015), from the rover's location in Gale Crater.

Scientist Jennifer Eigenbrode used a soil simulant — material that closely resembles material found on the martian surface — to test the effectiveness of a sample-preparation method that was added ...

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians guide the backshell as it is lowered over NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, f...

This wide view of the "John Klein" location selected for the first rock drilling by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is a mosaic taken by Curiosity's right Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the afternoon of ...

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to take the images combined into this mosaic of the drill area, called "John Klein."

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life, is in development for a launch opportunity in 2009.

This Sept. 25, 2015, view from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a dark sand dune in the middle distance. The rover's examination of dunes on the way toward higher layers of Moun...

This image shows the Highfield drill hole made by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover as it was collecting a sample on “Vera Rubin Ridge” in Gale Crater.

Wispy clouds float across the Martian sky in this accelerated sequence of enhanced images taken on July 17, 2017, by the Navcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.

This animation shows the location of a set of Hazard-Avoidance cameras on the back of NASA's Curiosity rover. Each camera is protected by a clear dust cover, shown here popping off. (No audio)