Scarecrow Rover Desert Tests

A NASA Dryden Flight Research Center F/A-18 852 aircraft performs a roll during a dive toward Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., during June 2011 flight tests of a Mars landing radar.

This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the cover on an inlet that will receive powdered rock and soil samples for analysis.

This pair of images shows a "bite mark" where NASA's Curiosity rover scooped up some Martian soil (left), and the scoop carrying soil.

This mosaic of images shows a boulder-sized rock called "Strathdon," which is made up of many complex layers. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took these images using its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on Jul...

This 360-degree panorama was acquired on Sept. 4, 2016, by the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover while the rover was in a scenic area called "Murray Buttes" on lower Mount Sharp. The flat-...

Curiosity rover obtains the first sample ever collected from the interior of a rock on another planet.

The foreground of this scene from the Mastcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows purple-hued rocks near the rover's late-2016 location. The middle distance includes future destinations for the ro...

The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity rover is carried at an angle when the rover's arm is stowed for driving.

At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the "back shell powered descent vehicle" configuration, containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curio...

The right Mast Camera (Mastcam) of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover provided this view of the lower stratigraphy at "Yellowknife Bay" inside Gale Crater on Mars.

NASA readies for the experimental flight of a test vehicle designed for landing larger payloads on Mars.

This view of the American flag medallion on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 44th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Sept...

A rippled linear dune of dark Martian sand, "Nathan Bridges Dune," dominates this full-circle panorama from the Mastcam of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. This dune was one research stop of the missio...

Happy birthday song for Curiosity

This image shows ChemCam's close-up of the rock named "Rapitan" with the analysis of its elemental composition.

Episode one launches with Jennifer Trosper in the driver’s seat. As she looks in the rearview mirror at twenty-five years of exploring with NASA’s Mars rovers, she reveals how their progression has...

The image, at lower left, is annotated to show where the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took measurement on a rock outcrop (Spot 39) and on loose soil (S...

This image is an artist's concept of the Mars Science Laboratory on the surface of Mars.

This image of a calibration target illuminated by ultraviolet LEDs (light emitting diodes) is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end ...

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover targeted the laser of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument with remarkable accuracy for assessing the composition of the wall of a drilled hole and tailings tha...

Emily Eelkema Stough, Tactical Uplink Lead and Jessica Samuels, Engineering Operations Team Chief, pose for the cameras in the "Mars Yard" with Curiosity's ground test model in the background.

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 has discovered lots of evidence of ancient lakes on the Red Planet – and this recent panorama shows intriguing new clues.

This view of terrestrial rocks was taken by a testing twin -- the "life test unit" -- of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory.

Mars Science Laboratory mission scientists, flight controllers, managers and administrators raise their hands to a cheering crowd at a news conference following the successful landing of NASA’s Cur...