Curiosity’s 360-Degree View Approaching ‘Mont Mercou’

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. Right of center in the upper part of the image is “Mont Mercou,” a ~20-foot-tall (6-meter-tall) outcrop nicknamed after a mountain in France. Beyond the outcrop are peaks higher up Mount Sharp, the mountain Curiosity has been rolling up since 2014. Mount Sharp’s summit can be seen at the top of the image, just left of center.

The panorama has been white-balanced so that the colors of the rock materials resemble how they would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.

Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam. A division of Caltech, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and manages the Curiosity rover for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.