Sandy Dunes

This artist's illustration shows NASA's four successful Mars rovers (from left to right): Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity. The image also shows the upcoming Mars 2020 rover and a h...

This animation shows the major mission events of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars. (Audio: music and mechanical sounds only)

This image shows where NASA's Curiosity rover aimed two different instruments to study a pyramid-shaped rock known as "Jake Matijevic."

The mast camera on the Mars Science Laboratory will capture the Martian terrain in color photos and high-definition video. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

ASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on its mast to catch this look-back eastward at wheel tracks from driving through and past "Dingo Gap" inside Gale Crater.

Images of locations in Gale Crater taken from orbit around Mars reveal evidence of erosion in recent geological times and development of small scarps, or vertical surfaces.

The Laser-Induced Remote Sensing for Chemistry and Micro-Imaging instrument will identify atomic elements in martian rocks. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/J.-L. Lacour, CEA

The "Bonanza King" rock on Mars, pictured here, was tapped by the drill belonging to NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.

This image shows the location of the 150-micrometer sieve screen on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, a device used to remove larger particles from samples before delivery to science instruments.

This full-resolution color image from NASA's Curiosity Rover shows the gravel-covered surface of Mars. It was taken by the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) several minutes after Curiosity touched down o...

The Mars Descent Imager will provide color video footage of the landing site and the surrounding terrain during the Mars Science Laboratory's descent to the surface of the red planet. Image credit:...

Getting a head start on summer, Curiosity is planning a road trip to Logan's Pass on Mars. Just like Earthlings, the rover relies on a highway map and takes scenic detours along the way.

Engineers just installed six new wheels on the Curiosity rover, and rotated all six wheels at once on July 9, 2010.

The Mastcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this view of "Vera Rubin Ridge" about two weeks before the rover starting to ascend this steep ridge on lower Mount Sharp.

In the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41, the payload fairing containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft was attached to its Atlas V rocket on Nov. 3, 2011.

Two sizes of ripples are evident in this Dec. 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. The l...

NASA's Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here, which the science team has named "Hottah" after Hottah Lake in...

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover took this 360-degree panorama while atop “Mont Mercou,” a rock formation that offered a view into Gale Crater below. 

This image shows a globe of Mars with the locations of the four proposed landing sites noted in white font and the locations of prior landed missions in yellow font. Prior landed missions include: ...

NASA has selected Gale crater as the landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

Engineers test Curiosity's hill-climbing capabilities using her Earthbound twin.

This animation depicts the location of the ChemCam instrument at the top of the mast on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity and the field of view of the instrument's camera, called the Remote Micro-Imager....

This image of a calibration target illuminated by white-light LEDs (light emitting diodes) is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by the Mars Hand Lens I0he robotic arm of NASA's Mars r...

This feather-shaped iridescent cloud was captured just after sunset on Jan. 27, 2023, the 3,724th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's mission. Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scienti...

This northeast-facing view from the lower edge of the pale "Pahrump Hills" outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp includes wind-sculpted ripples of sand and dust in the middle ground. It was taken by C...