Mars on Earth

This diagram depicts a vertical cross section through geological layers deposited by rivers, deltas and lakes. Deposits from a series of successive deltas build out increasingly high in elevation a...

This video, presented at four times actual speed, shows a test using an engineering model of the soil scoop for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. The scoop dips to about 1.4 inches (3.5 centimeters) dee...

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians guide the backshell as it is lowered over NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, f...

Goal 2: Characterize the climate of Mars

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover documented itself in the context of its work site, an area called "Rocknest Wind Drift," on the 84th Martian day, or sol, of its mission (Oct. 31, 2012).

As of June 2012, the target landing area for Curiosity, the rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is the ellipse marked on this image, about 12 miles long and 4 miles wide (20 kilometers...

No bones about it! Seen by Mars rover Curiosity using its MastCam, this Mars rock may look like a femur thigh bone. Mission science team members think its shape is likely sculpted by erosion, eithe...

This image shows a close-up of the rock named "Crest," taken by the remote micro-imager (RMI) on Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument above the analysis of the elements detected by...

This mosaic of images from Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) shows geological members of the Yellowknife Bay formation, and the sites where Curiosity drilled into the lowest-lying member, called Sh...

This area at the base of Mount Sharp on Mars includes a pale outcrop, called "Pahrump Hills," that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover investigated from September 2014 to March 2015, and the "Artist's Driv...

This artist's concept shows thrusters firing during the entry, descent and landing phase for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission to Mars.

This wide view of the 'John Klein' location selected for the first rock drilling by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is a mosaic taken by Curiosity's right Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the afternoon of ...

This side-by-side comparison shows the X-ray diffraction patterns of two different samples collected from rocks on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover.

This image maps the traverse of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity from "Bradbury Landing" to "Yellowknife Bay," with an inset documenting a change in the ground's thermal properties with arrival at a dif...

For at least a couple of days, the science team of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is focused on a full-bore science campaign at a tantalizing, rocky site informally called "Darwin."

This figure shows the location of CHIMRA on the turret of NASA's Curiosity rover, together with a cutaway view of the device.

One priority target for a closer look by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity before the rover departs the "Glenelg" area east of its landing site is the pitted outcrop called "Point Lake," in the upper hal...

This left-eye member of a stereo pair of images from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a full 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings at the site where it firs...

Scarecrow is a full-scale version of Curiosity, but without the “brains.” Engineers use it to test drive on different types of terrain. In this image, the rover was taken out to the Dumont Dunes in...

The highest concentration of boron measured on Mars, as of late 2016, is in this mineral vein examined with the ChemCam instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover on Aug, 25, 2016. Orange bars indicate b...

Light-toned nodules and veins are visible in this image from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity of a patch of sedimentary rock called "Knorr."

Preparations are under way to enclose NASA's Mars Science Laboratory in an Atlas V rocket payload fairing in this photograph from inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy S...

NASA's Curiosity rover captured its highest-resolution panorama of the Martian surface between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, 2019.

The Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite will weigh about 83 pounds (38 kilograms) and make up about half the science payload of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. It is a suite of three inst...

This image shows the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Curiosity rover, with the Martian landscape in the background.