Driving Over Sandy Ripples

This pair of images taken a few minutes apart show how laser firing by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity removes dust from the surface of a rock.

This exposure of finely laminated bedrock on Mars includes tiny crystal-shaped bumps, plus mineral veins with both bright and dark material. This rock target, called "Jura," was imaged by the MAHLI...

This movie from NASA's Curiosity rover shows all the "thumbnail" (low-resolution) frames acquired by the Mars Descent Imager between the jettison of the heat shield and touchdown. The video, obtain...

A group of teachers discusses solutions to a problem-solving activity at the Aug. 5, 2012, Curiosity Educator Workshop at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

This panorama from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover was taken on Dec. 19 (Sol 2265). The rover's last drill location on Vera Rubin Ridge is visible, as well as the clay regi...

This stereo mosaic of images from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the terrain surrounding the rover's position on the 524th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (...

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.

This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a small bright object on the ground beside the rover at the "Rocknest" site.

This scene was captured by Curiosity on Sept. 9, 2015, when NASA’s Mars rover was many miles from its current location.

This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the great diversity of grains found on the surface of a Martian rock.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover caught its own shadow in this image taken just after completing a drive of 329 feet (100.3 meters) on the 547th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Feb. 18...

A blink pair of images taken before and after Curiosity performed a "mini drill" test on a Martian rock shows changes resulting from that activity.

The sequence of seven images in this animation shows sunspots as viewed by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from June 27 to July 8, 2015. From Mars, the rover was in position to see the opposite side of...

With a unique view taken from inside Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, an overhead crane lifts the Centaur upper stage for the...

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mastcam instrument to take the 126 individual images that make up this 360-degree panorama on March 3, 2021, the 3,048th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

This raw-color view from Curiosity's Mastcam shows the rover's drill just after finishing a drilling operation at "Telegraph Peak" on Feb. 24, 2015. Three days later, a fault-protection action by t...

The Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its telephoto lens to capture Mount Sharp in the morning illumination on Oct. 13, 2019, the 2,555th Martian day, or sol, of the miss...

This head-on view shows the tip of the drill bit on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.

This map shows the route NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover took from May into July to complete the most difficult climb of the mission. Starting in “Marker Band Valley” (the darker area at the top center...

The shape of the tip of the bit in the drill of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is apparent in this view recorded by the remote micro-imager in the rover's Chemistry and Camera instrument during the 17...

This artist's concept depicts the moment immediately after NASA's Curiosity rover touches down onto the Martian surface.

This diagram depicts rivers entering a lake. Where the water's flow decelerates, sediments drop out, and a delta forms, depositing a prism of sediment that tapers out toward the lake's interior. Pr...

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 29th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 4, 2012).

This collage shows the variety of soils found at landing sites on Mars.

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