Mawrth Vallis

This graphic portrays the sequence of key events in August 2012 from the time the NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, with its rover Curiosity, enters the Martian atmosphere to a moment afte...

This May 12, 2014, view from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) in NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the rock target "Windjana" and its immediate surroundings after inspection of the site by the rov...

A chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this postcard from NASA's Curiosity rover. The image shows the base of Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual science destination.

Aaron Yazzie and others explain how, by scooping dirt and drilling rocks, rovers are digging deeper into the mysteries of Mars.

The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover monitors the natural radiation environment at the surface of Mars.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this mound of rock nicknamed “East Cliffs” on May 7, 2022, the 3,466th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. 

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Atlas V rocket's payload fairing containing the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft stands securely a...

This animation demonstrates the salty ponds and streams that scientists think may have been left behind as Gale Crater dried out over time. The bottom of the image is the floor of Gale Crater, with...

Goddard scientist Jennifer Eigenbrode injected a chemical into a rock sample and then heated the test tube to determine whether the sample-preparation method preserved the sample's molecular struct...

A separate electronics box will allow the Mastcam to process images independently of the main rover computer system. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

This photograph of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, was taken during mobility testing on June 3, 2011. The location is inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propul...

At Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, an overhead crane will be used to lift the Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V into the Vertical Integrat...

This chart graphs measurements made by the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity against the distance the rover has driven, in meters.

This computer-generated view depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight, with an area including Gale Crater beginning to catch morning light.

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 sped-up movie from the Curiosity rover shows Phobos (the larger of Mars' two moons) passing in front of smaller Deimos. (No audio)

The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the robotic arm of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used electric lights at night on Jan. 22, 2016, to illuminate this postage-stamp-size view of Martian sand...

This figure shows the location of CHIMRA on the turret of NASA's Curiosity rover, together with a cutaway view of the device.

A History of Exobiology and Astrobiology at NASA 

Many members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project, which operates the Curiosity rover on Mars, gathered for this 2016 team photo with a test rover in the "Mars Yard" at NASA's Jet Propulsion L...

The first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission rolls out of the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida bound for ...

The ChemCam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover examined a brushed area on target rock "Christmas Cove" on Sept. 17, 2017, and found spectral evidence of hematite, an iron-oxide mineral. Five lines on t...

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."

This is the first laser spectrum from the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover, sent back from Mars on August 19, 2012.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the MAHLI camera at the end of its arm in April and May 2014 to take dozens of component images combined into this self-portrait where the rover drilled into a sand...