Mars Rover Photosynth

This stereo view from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the terrain ahead of the rover as it makes its way westward through a valley called "Artist's Drive." The i...

Engineers use Curiosity's body double to practice robotic arm placement.

A beautiful sun rises on Florida's space coast as preparations are underway for mating the final solid rocket motor (SRM) to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Faci...

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

This 160-degree, stereo view from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is centered southward toward a planned science waypoint at "the Kimberley," with an outcrop of eroded sandstone in the foreground. The ...

Scientists listen intently for status updates prior to Curiosity's landing.

Mars rover Curiosity, the centerpiece of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is coming together for extensive testing prior to its late 2011 launch.

Soil clinging to the right middle and rear wheels of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity can be seen in this image taken by the Curiosity's Navigation Camera after the rover's third drive on Mars.

Erisa Hines, a driver for the Mars Curiosity rover, based at JPL, also talks to participants in 'Destination: Mars.'

This image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a portion of the pale rock outcrop that includes the "Bonanza King" target chosen for evaluation as the mission's four...

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the "Bradbury Landing" location where it landed in August 2012 (the start of the line in upper right) to a major waypoint called ...

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

This image illustrates the principals of a technique called "laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy," which the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument will use on Mars.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has caught the first image of asteroids taken from the surface of Mars.

This is the right-eye member of a stereo pair of images of the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, Curiosity.

Artist concept of Mars Science Laboratory Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA scientists and engineers prepare Mars Curiosity rover for its first scoop of soil for analysis.The rover's ability to put soil samples into analytical instruments is central to assessing wheth...

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

Engineers put the rover through thousands of hours of testing. They did drop tests; pull tests; drive tests; load tests, and many other tests to get Curiosity ready for launch.

This video (part 1 of a 4 part series) shows engineers testing a new parachute in the largest wind tunnel on Earth for the Curiosity rover prior to its landing on August 2012.

Curiosity's Rear View, Linearized

Between 2006 and 2011, engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., conducted a series of aerial tests on the radar that will be used to land NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars....

This is the highest-resolution view that the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired of the top of a rock called "Bathurst Inlet."

A June 2012 revision of the landing target area for Curiosity, the big rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, reduces the area's size.

This image illustrates how spacecraft landings on Mars have become more and more precise over the years.