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Curiosity Rover Fact Sheet

MSL fact sheet

November 01, 2011

Download a PDF of the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Fact Sheet.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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The reclosable dust cover on Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was opened for the first time during the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 8, 2012), enabling MA...
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The reclosable dust cover on Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was opened for the first time during the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 8, 2012), enabling MAHLI to take this image.
First Image From Curiosity's Arm Camera With Dust Cover Open
ASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on its mast to catch this look-back eastward at wheel tracks from driving through and past "Dingo Gap" inside Gale Crater.
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ASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on its mast to catch this look-back eastward at wheel tracks from driving through and past "Dingo Gap" inside Gale Crater.
Curiosity Making Headway West of 'Dingo Gap'
This image from the right Mast Camera (Mastcam) of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a scoop full of sand and dust lifted by the rover's first use of the scoop on its robotic arm.
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This image from the right Mast Camera (Mastcam) of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a scoop full of sand and dust lifted by the rover's first use of the scoop on its robotic arm.
View of Curiosity's First Scoop Also Shows Bright Object
NASA's Curiosity rover delivers its first soil sample to its chemistry and mineralogy instrument.
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Mars Soil Sample Delivered
Mars Soil Sample Delivered
Eberswalde Crater was one of the four final landing sites considered for the MSL rover. A channel leads into the crater and the lithified remains of a delta, a fan-like feature formed when sediment...
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A channel leads into the crater and the lithified remains of a delta, a fan-like feature formed when sediment-laden water flows from a river into a larger body of water such as a lake.
Eberswalde Delta (3-D)
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
A technician points a smartphone camera at NASA's Perseverance rover during an inspection at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The imagery from the phone was seen live by mission engineers watching ...
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A technician points a smartphone camera at NASA's Perseverance rover during an inspection at Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Smartphone Walkdown
A variety of landforms, including isolated hills, eroded mesas, dark eroded sediments, and dunes are seen within an area called "Aram Chaos."
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A variety of landforms, including isolated hills, eroded mesas, dark eroded sediments, and dunes are seen within an area called "Aram Chaos."
The Eastern Floor of Aram Chaos (3-D)
This heart-shaped granite rock was spotted in JPL's Mars Yard just in time for Valentine's Day. Engineers were driving the Earth-bound copy of the Curiosity rover, informally named Maggie, for tes...
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This heart-shaped granite rock was spotted in JPL's Mars Yard just in time for Valentine's Day. Engineers were driving the Earth-bound copy of the Curiosity rover, informally named Maggie, for tests that day.
Rockin' Valentines!
Cydonia Labyrinthus is a complex of intersecting valleys that form a polygonal fractured terrain.
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Cydonia Labyrinthus is a complex of intersecting valleys that form a polygonal fractured terrain.
Cydonia Labyrinthus (3-D)
This map shows the path on Mars of NASA's Curiosity rover toward Glenelg, an area where three terrains of scientific interest converge.
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This map shows the path on Mars of NASA's Curiosity rover toward Glenelg, an area where three terrains of scientific interest converge.
Curiosity's Roadside Discoveries
The top of the butte in this Sept. 1, 2016, scene from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover stands about 16 feet above the rover and about 82 feet east-southeast of the rover. T...
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The top of the butte in this Sept. 1, 2016, scene from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover stands about 16 feet above the rover and about 82 feet east-southeast of the rover. The site is in the "Murray Buttes" area of lower Mount Sharp, and this particular butte is called "M9a."
Butte 'M9a' in 'Murray Buttes' on Mars
In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians assist as the payload fairing of an Atlas V rocket approaches a transporter for the move to Space ...
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In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians assist as the payload fairing of an Atlas V rocket approaches a transporter for the move to Space Launch Complex 41.
Technicians Prepare to Move Payload Fairing
Erisa Hines, a driver for the Mars Curiosity rover, based at JPL, also talks to participants in 'Destination: Mars.'
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Erisa Hines, a driver for the Mars Curiosity rover, based at JPL, also talks to participants in 'Destination: Mars.'
Erisa Hines
The Mars InSight Roadshow van at San Francisco's Exploratorium in April 2018. The Roadshow van will stop at different California venues to share public exhibits and lectures about NASA's InSight mi...
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This is an image of the Mars InSight Roadshow van at San Francisco's Exploratorium in April 2018.
Mars InSight Roadshow Van
On Oct. 14, 2021, NASA Administrator (second from left) and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (far right) visited the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to discuss NASA's climate efforts and the late...
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On Oct. 14, 2021, NASA Administrator (second from left) and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (far right) visited the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to discuss NASA's climate efforts and the latest developments with the agency's Perseverance rover and Mars. With them are (from far left) Thomas Rosenbaum, president of Caltech, which manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA; JPL Interim Director Larry James; JPL CFO Sammy Kayali; and NASA Office of JPL Management and Oversight Marcus Watkins.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson's Arrival
Curiosity will spend the holidays at a location on Mars dubbed "Grandma's House."
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Curiosity's Martian Holiday
Curiosity's Martian Holiday
This animation first shows Curiosity working to understand Mars as a past habitat, with a cut to MAVEN arriving at Mars to study the upper Martian atmosphere. (Audio: music and mechanical sounds only)
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Curiosity and MAVEN Explore Mars
Curiosity and MAVEN Explore Mars
On "Vera Rubin Ridge," to determine whether dust coatings are hiding rocks' hematite content, the Mastcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this Sept. 17, 2017, image of a rock surface that had b...
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On "Vera Rubin Ridge," to determine whether dust coatings are hiding rocks' hematite content, the Mastcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this Sept. 17, 2017, image of a rock surface that had been brushed with the rover's Dust Removal Tool. The purplish tint may indicate fine-grained hematite.
Curiosity Checks Under the Dust on a Martian Rock
This animation shows a proposed route up Mount Sharp that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover could follow in the future. “Rafael Navarro Mountain” is marked along the way.
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animation shows a proposed route up Mount Sharp that the rover could follow in the future
The Route Past Rafael Navarro Mountain
For optimal communications during arrival at Mars, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, will launch after Thanksgiving 2011 and land on Mars in August 2012.
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Artist's concept of Curiosity as it is being lowered for landing.
Critical Step in Next Mars Rover Landing
Dust devils dance in the distance in this sequence of images taken by the Navigation Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Feb. 12, 2017, during the afternoon of the rover's 1,607th Martian day,...
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Dust devils dance in the distance in this sequence of images taken by the Navigation Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Feb. 12, 2017, during the afternoon of the rover's 1,607th Martian day, or sol.
Curiosity Observes Whirlwinds Carrying Martian Dust
Nili Fossae Trough
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Nili Fossae Trough
Nili Fossae Trough
Download a PDF of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Landing Press Kit.
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Mars 2020 Perseverance Landing Press Kit
Mars 2020 Perseverance Landing Press Kit
This image, acquired by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a new impact crater that has appeared on the surface of Mars, formed at most between September 2016 and February 2019.
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This image, acquired by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a new impact crater that has appeared on the surface of Mars, formed at most between September 2016 and February 2019.
A Work of Art

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The Mars lander’s seismometer has picked up vibrations from four separate impacts in the past two years.
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