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CURIOSITY IMAGES

Engineers Celebrate Curiosity's Landing

The Entry, Descent and Landing team gathers to celebrate prior to a post-landing press briefing.

August 05, 2012

The Entry, Descent and Landing team gathers to celebrate prior to a post-landing press briefing.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This simulation shows planned movements of the arm on NASA's Curiosity rover for round one of its robotic arm checkouts, expected to run on Sol 33 (Sept. 8, 2012). This so-called "teach point" che...
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Curiosity Working Its Arm
Curiosity Working Its Arm
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team in the MSL Mission Support Area react after learning the Curiosity rover has landed safely on Mars and images start coming in at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory...
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The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team in the MSL Mission Support Area react after learning the the Curiosity rove has landed safely on Mars and images start coming in at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Mars, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 in Pasadena, Calif. The MSL Rover named Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes.
The Mars Science Laboratory Team
This mosaic of images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows Mount Sharp in a white-balanced color adjustment that makes the sky look overly blue but shows the terrain ...
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This mosaic of images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows Mount Sharp in a white-balanced color adjustment that makes the sky look overly blue but shows the terrain as if under Earth-like lighting.
Mount Sharp Panorama in White-Balanced Colors
Side-by-side images depict NASA's Curiosity rover (left) and a moon buggy driven during the Apollo 16 mission.
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Side-by-side images depict NASA's Curiosity rover (left) and a moon buggy driven during the Apollo 16 mission.
A Mars Buggy and a Moon Buggy
The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, largest of the 10 science instruments for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, will examine samples of Martian rocks, soil and atmosphere for inform...
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The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, largest of the 10 science instruments for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, will examine samples of Martian rocks, soil and atmosphere for information about chemicals that are important to life and other chemical indicators about past and present environments.
Lifting SAM Instrument for Installation into Mars Rover
This diagram and the one at PIA16917 illustrate how the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover detects hydrogen in the ground beneath the rover.
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This diagram and the one at PIA16917 illustrate how the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover detects hydrogen in the ground beneath the rover.
Physics of How DAN on Curiosity Checks for Water, Part 1
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured these "sun rays" shining through clouds at sunset on Feb. 2, 2023, the 3,730th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. It was the first time that sun rays, also kn...
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured these “sun rays” shining through clouds at sunset on Feb. 2, 2023, the 3,730th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Curiosity Views First Martian 'Sun Rays'
The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles coming from the sun, distant supernovae and other sources.
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The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles coming from the sun, distant supernovae and other sources.
Sources of Ionizing Radiation in Interplanetary Space
This cropped image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows one set of marks on the surface of Mars where blasts from the descent-stage rocket engines blew away some of the surface material.
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This cropped image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows one set of marks on the surface of Mars where blasts from the descent-stage rocket engines blew away some of the surface material.
Goulburn Scour Mark
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity captured this 360-degree view using its Navigation Camera (Navcam) after a 17-foot (5.3 meter) drive on 477th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Dec. 8, 2...
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity captured this 360-degree view using its Navigation Camera (Navcam) after a 17-foot (5.3 meter) drive on 477th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Dec. 8, 2013).
Rocky Mars Ground Where Curiosity Has Been Driving
A view from the "Kimberley" formation on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating the ancient depression that existed befor...
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A view from the "Kimberley" formation on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating the ancient depression that existed before the larger bulk of the mountain formed.
Strata at Base of Mount Sharp
This patch of Martian bedrock, about 2 feet (70 centimeters) across, is finely layered rock with some pea-size inclusions. It lies near the lowest point of the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop, which forms ...
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Fine-Grained Rock at Base of Martian Mount Sharp
Fine-Grained, Finely Layered Rock at Base of Martian Mount Sharp
The finished heat shield for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, with a diameter of 4.5 meters (14 feet, 9 inches), is the largest ever built for descending through the atmosphere of any planet. This i...
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The finished heat shield for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, with a diameter of 4.5 meters (14 feet, 9 inches), is the largest ever built for descending through the atmosphere of any planet. This image shows the heat shield and a spacecraft worker at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and tested the heat shield.
Large Heat Shield for Mars Science Laboratory
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has collected its first sample from the base of Mount Sharp.
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Curiosity Rover Report: A Taste of Mount Sharp
Curiosity Rover Report: A Taste of Mount Sharp
This diagram depicts a vertical cross section through geological layers deposited by rivers, deltas and lakes. Deposits from a series of successive deltas build out increasingly high in elevation a...
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This diagram depicts a vertical cross section through geological layers deposited by rivers, deltas and lakes. Deposits from a series of successive deltas build out increasingly high in elevation as they migrate toward the center of the basin, over lake deposits.
Multiple Deltas Built Out Over Time
This map shows the location of "Cumberland," the second rock-drilling target for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, in relation to the rover's first drilling target, "John Klein," within the southwestern...
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This map shows the location of "Cumberland," the second rock-drilling target for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, in relation to the rover's first drilling target, "John Klein," within the southwestern lobe of a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay."
'Cumberland' Selected as Curiosity's Second Drilling Target
Curiosity's "eyes" (the Mastcam) are shrouded in a silvery material, awaiting their first look around the clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the rover is being built.
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This image shows a close-up of the rover's "head." At the top is a white box structure with a large red circle (the rover's laser called ChemCam) to the right. Beneath the box are two cameras, which will provide views of the Martian surface. They are covered with protective silvery material.
Close-Up View of Curiosity's "Head"
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this selfie using its left black-and-white navigation camera, which is mounted on its mast, or “head,” on Feb. 3, 2024, the 4,086th Martian day, or sol, of the ...
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this selfie using its left black-and-white navigation camera, which is mounted on its mast, or “head,” on Feb. 3, 2024, the 4,086th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Curiosity Takes a Navcam Selfie
The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected dozens of whirlwinds, or vortex events, causing brief dips in atmospheric pressure, and sometimes other...
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The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected dozens of whirlwinds, or vortex events, causing brief dips in atmospheric pressure, and sometimes other measurable effects.
Whirlwind Detection by Curiosity in Gale Crater
This set of images compares the Link outcrop of rocks on Mars (left) with similar rocks seen on Earth (right).
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This set of images compares the Link outcrop of rocks on Mars (left) with similar rocks seen on Earth (right).
Rock Outcrops on Mars and Earth
This image shows the quadrangle where NASA's Curiosity rover landed, now called Yellowknife.
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Curiosity's Quad - this image shows the quadrangle where NASA's Curiosity rover landed, now called Yellowknife.
Curiosity's Quad
The plot on the left shows new results from the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover.
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The plot on the left shows new results from the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover.
Weighing Molecules on Mars
This map traces where NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove between landing at a site subsequently named "Bradbury Landing," and the position reached during the mission's 123rd Martian day, or sol, (De...
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This map traces where NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove between landing at a site subsequently named "Bradbury Landing," and the position reached during the mission's 123rd Martian day, or sol, (Dec. 10, 2012).
Curiosity Traverse Map, Sol 123
This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the first sample-collection hole drilled in Mount Sharp, the layered mountain that is the science desti...
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This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the first sample-collection hole drilled in Mount Sharp, the layered mountain that is the science destination of the rover's extended mission.
First Sampling Hole in Mount Sharp
The two donut-shaped tracks make an infinity symbol, and mark the first two drives of NASA's Curiosity rover.
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The two donut-shaped tracks make an infinity symbol, and mark the first two drives of NASA's Curiosity rover.
From Infinity and Beyond

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