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Meet the new MSL Rover

May 26, 2009

Meet the new MSL Rover

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This mosaic, taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the planned route (in yellow) of NASA's Curiosity rover from "Pah...
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This image shows the planned route (in yellow) of NASA's Curiosity rover from "Pahrump Hills" at the base of Mount Sharp, through the "Murray Formation," and south to the hematite ridge further up the flank of Mount Sharp. The rover's location is near Pahrump Hills noted with a green star on the top right of the image.
Curiosity Rover Planned Route
The Martian outcrop where pale rock meets darker overlying rock near the middle of this view is an example of a geological contact.
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The Martian outcrop where pale rock meets darker overlying rock near the middle of this May 21, 2015, view is an example of a geological contact. Such contacts can reveal clues about how environmental conditions that produced one type of rock were related to conditions that produced the other.
Rover's Reward for Climbing: Exposed Geological Contact
This full-resolution image shows one of the first views from NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (early morning hours Aug. 6 EDT).
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This full-resolution image shows one of the first views from NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (early morning hours Aug. 6 EDT).
Curiosity's Early Views of Mars
This image of terrain inside Mars' Gale Crater and the inset of the calibration target for the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity illustrate how false color can be used to make di...
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This image of terrain inside Mars' Gale Crater and the inset of the calibration target for the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity illustrate how false color can be used to make differences more evident in the materials in the scene.
Using False Color from Curiosity's Mast Camera
This patch of bedrock, called "Cumberland," has been selected as the second target for drilling by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.
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This patch of bedrock, called "Cumberland," has been selected as the second target for drilling by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.
'Cumberland' Target for Drilling by Curiosity Mars Rover
While Curiosity continues to blaze a trail to Mount Sharp, the rover takes time to shoot a Martian moon movie.
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The Odometer Keeps Turning
The Odometer Keeps Turning
This oblique, southward-looking view of Gale crater shows the landing site and the mound of layered rocks that NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will investigate.
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This oblique, southward-looking view of Gale crater shows the landing site and the mound of layered rocks that NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will investigate.
Context of Curiosity Landing Site in Gale Crater, with Ellipse
A Russian-built, neutron-shooting instrument on the Curiosity rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will check for water-bearing minerals in the ground beneath the rover.
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A Russian-built, neutron-shooting instrument on the Curiosity rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will check for water-bearing minerals in the ground beneath the rover.
Neutron Generator of Instrument for Detecting Water-Bearing Minerals
These images from the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show several impact scars on Mars made by pieces of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft that the spacecraft shed just before entering ...
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These images from the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show several impact scars on Mars made by pieces of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft that the spacecraft shed just before entering the Martian atmosphere.
Impact Scars from MSL Cruise Stage and Two Balance Weights (Figure 3)
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.
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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.
Mars Science Laboratory Atop Its Atlas V
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life, is in development for a launch opportunity in 2009.
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NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life, is in development for a launch opportunity in 2009.
Mars Science Laboratory with Arm Extended, Artist's Concept
This image from the front Hazcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the rover's drill in place during a test of whether the rock beneath it, "Bonanza King," would be an acceptable target for dril...
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This image from the front Hazcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the rover's drill in place during a test of whether the rock beneath it, 'Bonanza King,' would be an acceptable target for drilling to collect a sample.
Candidate Drilling Target on Mars Doesn't Pass Exam
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....
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ChemCam Field of View
ChemCam Field of View
This drawing of the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, Curiosity, indicates the location of science instruments and some other tools on the car-size rover.
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This drawing of the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, Curiosity, indicates the location of science instruments and some other tools on the car-size rover.
Diverse Science Payload on Mars Rover Curiosity
On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, one of three lightning masts, at left, protects the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as it rolls from the safety of the Vertical I...
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On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, one of three lightning masts, at left, protects the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as it rolls from the safety of the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex-41 to the pad's surface.
Atlas V Rocket At The Launch Complex-41
The penny in this image is part of a camera calibration target on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.
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The penny in this image is part of a camera calibration target on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.
Lincoln Penny on Mars in Camera's Calibration Target
This picture shows the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer used on the Mars Exploration Rovers. The improved APXS instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover would be able to detect elemental com...
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This photo shows a round, metal cylinder, small enough to fit in a human palm, open at the end to show a flat bottomed-interior with a smaller, circular metal plate at the bottom. Around the edges of the circular metal plate are six circular openings arranged in a daisy-like formation, like the chamber openings at the end of a six-cylinder pistol.
Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer
The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) is a powerful set of three instruments onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover that work together to investigate the chemistry of the Martian sur...
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The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) is a powerful set of three instruments onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover that work together to investigate the chemistry of the Martian surface and atmosphere within Gale Crater.
SAM Instrument Suite, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Astronaut, Leland Melvin escorts Will.i.am into JPL at the beginning of the Curiosity Landing Night event.
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Astronaut, Leland Melvin escorts Will.i.am into JPL at the beginning of the Curiosity Landing Night event.
Leland Melvin and Will.i.am Arrive at JPL
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this stereo view of various rock types at waypoint called "the Kimberley" shortly after arriving at the location on April 2, 2014. The scene appears three dimen...
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this stereo view of various rock types at waypoint called "the Kimberley" shortly after arriving at the location on April 2, 2014. The scene appears three dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.
Curiosity's View From Arrival Point at 'The Kimberley' Waypoint (Stereo)
This sequence of images shows a dust-carrying whirlwind, called a dust devil, scooting across ground inside Gale Crater, as observed on the local summer afternoon of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover's 1...
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This sequence of images shows a dust-carrying whirlwind, called a dust devil, scooting across ground inside Gale Crater, as observed on the local summer afternoon of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover's 1,597th Martian day, or sol (Feb. 1, 2017). Timing is accelerated in this animation.
Martian Dust Devil Action in Gale Crater, Sol 1597
Images taken before and after NASA's Curiosity rover shot its laser 50 times are shown here.
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Images taken before and after NASA's Curiosity rover shot its laser 50 times are shown here.
After the Laser Shots
NASA's Curiosity heads to rock target "Jake," named in honor of Mars Science Laboratory engineer Jacob Matijevic.
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Tribute to Jake
Tribute to Jake
This is the first image taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT).
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This is the first image taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT).
What Lies Behind Curiosity
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...
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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 Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Sol 2057. It has been white balanced and contrast enhanced.
Curiosity Successfully Drills "Duluth"

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