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Replicating Martian Dunes

sand dune, mars rover, wheel, Dumont, Scarecrow, test - This image shows a row of uphill, white sand dunes that JPL engineers shape with long rakes for desert rover test, under blue skies. The Scarecrow rover sits at the bottom, waiting to be tested.

June 5, 2014

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This graph shows the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars, as measured by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station on NASA's Curiosity rover.
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This graph shows the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars, as measured by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station on NASA's Curiosity rover.
Pressure Cycles on Mars
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity captured this stereo view using its Navigation Camera (Navcam) after a 17-foot (5.3 meter) drive on 477th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Dec. 8, 2013)...
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity captured this stereo view using its Navigation Camera (Navcam) after a 17-foot (5.3 meter) drive on 477th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Dec. 8, 2013). The scene appears three dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.
Rocky Mars Ground Where Curiosity Has Been Driving (Stereo)
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
Many members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project, which operates the Curiosity rover on Mars, gathered for this 2016 team photo with a test rover in the "Mars Yard" at NASA'...
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Many members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project, which operates the Curiosity rover on Mars, gathered for this 2016 team photo with a test rover in the "Mars Yard" at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Curiosity Team Photo
Thick stacks of clay minerals indicate chemical alteration of thick stacks of rock by interaction with liquid water on ancient Mars.
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Thick stacks of clay minerals indicate chemical alteration of thick stacks of rock by interaction with liquid water on ancient Mars.
Chemical Alteration by Water, Mawrth Vallis
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Navigation Camera (Navcam) for this look back after finishing a long drive on Feb. 19, 2014. The rows of rocks just to the right of the fresh wheel tracks in th...
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Navigation Camera (Navcam) for this look back after finishing a long drive on Feb. 19, 2014. The rows of rocks just to the right of the fresh wheel tracks in this view are an outcrop called "Junda." This view is looking toward the east-northeast.
Curiosity's View Back After Passing 'Junda' Striations
This illustration shows the locations and interactions of volatiles on Mars. Volatiles are molecules that readily evaporate, converting to their gaseous form, such as water and carbon dioxide.
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This illustration shows the locations and interactions of volatiles on Mars. Volatiles are molecules that readily evaporate, converting to their gaseous form, such as water and carbon dioxide.
Volatiles on Mars
This scene shows NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at a location called "Windjana," where the rover found rocks containing manganese-oxide minerals, which require abundant water and strongl...
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This scene shows NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at a location called "Windjana," where the rover found rocks containing manganese-oxide minerals, which require abundant water and strongly oxidizing conditions to form.
NASA's Curiosity at Site of Clues About Ancient Oxygen
As the last step in a series of inspections of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) aboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, this camera's reclosable dust cover was opened for the first time during the 33r...
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As the last step in a series of inspections of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) aboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, this camera's reclosable dust cover 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 the center image of this set.
Martian Ground Seen by Arm Camera With and Without Dust Cover (Thumbnails)
This view from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows an example of discoloration closely linked to fractures in the Stimson formation sandstone on lower Mount Sharp. The pattern is evident along two p...
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This view from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows an example of discoloration closely linked to fractures in the Stimson formation sandstone on lower Mount Sharp.
Discolored Fracture Zones in Martian Sandstone
A crane lifts the 106.5-foot-long first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission through the open door of the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Compl...
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A crane lifts the 106.5-foot-long first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission through the open door of the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Atlas V Stands Tall
Curiosity’s twin, Scarecrow, gets down and dirty out in the Dumont Dunes in California’s Mojave Desert, near Death Valley.
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sand dune, mars rover, wheel, Dumont, Scarecrow, test - This image shows a sweeping view of Dumont Dunes in California's Mojave Desert, near Death Valley. One giant dune is pictured in the middle, casting a dark shadow over part of itself.
Sandy Dunes
This graph shows the ratio of concentrations of several elements in four different pairs of targets examined by Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instruments on NASA Mars rovers Curiosity an...
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This graph shows the ratio of concentrations of several elements in four different pairs of targets examined by Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instruments on NASA Mars rovers Curiosity and Spirit.
Alteration Effects at Gale and Gusev Craters
Engineers just installed six new wheels on the Curiosity rover, and rotated all six wheels at once on July 9, 2010.
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Curiosity Spins Its Wheels
Curiosity Spins Its Wheels
This sped-up movie from the Curiosity rover shows Phobos (the larger of Mars' two moons) passing in front of smaller Deimos. (No audio)
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One Martian Moon Passes the Other
One Martian Moon Passes the Other
The heritage for investigations with the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover comes from NASA's Odyssey orbiter.
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The heritage for investigations with the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover comes from NASA's Odyssey orbiter.
Laying the Groundwork for Curiosity's DAN
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars in its approach to and April 1, 2014, arrival at a waypoint called "the Kimberley," which rover team scientists chose in 2013 as the locatio...
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars in its approach to and April 1, 2014, arrival at a waypoint called "the Kimberley," which rover team scientists chose in 2013 as the location for the mission's next major investigations.
Map of Curiosity Mars Rover's Drives to 'the Kimberley' Waypoint
Mars has two small, asteroid-sized moons named Phobos and Deimos.
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Mars has two small, asteroid-sized moons named Phobos and Deimos.
Phobos in Transit (M-34)
This look back at a dune that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drove across was taken by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the 538th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 9, 2014).
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This look back at a dune that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drove across was taken by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the 538th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 9, 2014).
Curiosity's Color View of Martian Dune After Crossing It (Raw Color)
A stereo landscape scene from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows rock rows at "Junda" forming striations in the foreground, with Mount Sharp on the horizon. The image appears three dimensional when ...
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A stereo landscape scene from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows rock rows at "Junda" forming striations in the foreground, with Mount Sharp on the horizon. The image appears three dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.
Martian Landscape With Rock Rows and Mount Sharp (Stereo)
A NASA Mars Science Laboratory test rover called the Vehicle System Test Bed, or VSTB, serves as the closest double for Curiosity in evaluations of the mission's hardware and software.
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A NASA Mars Science Laboratory test rover called the Vehicle System Test Bed, or VSTB, serves as the closest double for Curiosity in evaluations of the mission's hardware and software.
Testing Precision of Movement of Curiosity's Robotic Arm
This graphic maps locations of the sites where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover collected its first 19 rock or soil samples for laboratory analysis inside the vehicle. It also presents images of the dri...
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This graphic maps locations of the sites where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover collected its first 19 rock or soil samples for laboratory analysis inside the vehicle. It also presents images of the drilled holes where 15 rock-powder samples were acquired, most recently at "Sebina," on Oct. 20, 2016.
Curiosity's Rock or Soil Sampling Sites on Mars, Through November 2016
This is a closeup view of the wheels on the Scarecrow mobility rover. Scarecrow is Curiosity's test double that engineers use for testing such as this drive over dunes in the Dumont Dunes in Calif...
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wheel, test, Scarecrow, Mars rover Rover wheels on Scarecrow with chevron-shaped treads rest on sand in Dumont dunes.
Scarecrow Rover Wheel Closeup
Enclosed in the protective mesh container known as the "gorilla cage," the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lifted up ...
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Enclosed in the protective mesh container known as the "gorilla cage," the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lifted up the side of the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41.
Lifting the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG)
Curiosity location for Sol 313
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Curiosity location for Sol 313
Curiosity location for Sol 313

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