Sandy Dunes

A close-up view of a microchip with 1.2 million names that will be placed aboard NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover. Engineers etched the names onto a silicon wafer or microchip. They used an electron be...

The left-front wheel of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows dents and holes in this image taken during the 469th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Nov. 30, 2013).

This closeup view from NASA's Curiosity rover shows finely layered rocks, deposited by wind long ago as migrating sand dunes.

The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the robotic arm of NASA's Curiosity rover will use a calibration target attached to a shoulder joint of the arm.

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...

This image shows the calibration target for the Chemistry and Camera instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover before it was installed on the rover and readied for launch.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove 6.2 feet (1.9 meters) during the 100th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Nov. 16, 2012).

This color panorama shows a 360-degree view of the landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover, including the highest part of Mount Sharp visible to the rover. That part of Mount Sharp is approximately ...

A web of shadows stretches across the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as the early morning sun shines through a metal lightning mast (left) at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Ca...

Teachers gather at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., for the Curiosity Landing Educator Workshop.

This view from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the downwind side of a dune about 13 feet high within the Bagnold Dunes field on Mars. The rover's Navigation Camera took the component images on De...

This image show the MSL BUD team

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

This image shows a closeup view of the two pairs of camera lenses on a shelf. The left-hand pair are larger than the right-hand pair, go to the hazard avoidance camera, and have a larger, fish-eye ...

A close-up image of a 2-inch-deep hole produced using a new drilling technique for NASA's Curiosity rover. The hole is about 0.6 inches across (1.6 centimeters). This image was taken by Curiosity's...

This self-portrait shows the deck of NASA's Curiosity rover from the rover's Navigation camera.

This stereo view from the Curiosity Mars rover's Navcam shows a 360-degree panorama around the site where the rover spent its 1,000th Martian day, or sol, on Mars. The image appears three-dimension...

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...

This global map of Mars was acquired on Aug. 5, 2012, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This 3D, or stereo anaglyph, view shows NASA's Mars rover Curiosity where it landed on Mars within Gale Crater, at a site now called Bradbury Landing. The view was produced from images taken by the...

This 360-degree panorama was taken on Aug. 9 by NASA's Curiosity rover at its location on Vera Rubin Ridge. 

This evenly layered rock photographed by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows a pattern typical of a lake-floor sedimentary deposit not far from where flowing water entere...

This full-circle view combined nearly 900 images taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, generating a panorama with 1.3 billion pixels in the full-resolution version.

The first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission arrives at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

After 2 years and nearly 9 kilometers of driving, NASA's Mars Curiosity has arrived at the base of Mount Sharp.