August 18, 2015

3 Years into Its Mission, Curiosity's Stunning Martian Panorama

NASA's Curiosity rover provides a beautiful, scientifically appetizing view of what's ahead on Mount Sharp on Mars

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

It's been three years since NASA's Curiosity rover, carrying the Mars Science Laboratory, made its bold skycrane-assisted landing on the surface of Mars.

Since then the rover has progressed across a wealth of varied and fascinating terrain. The southward looking panorama here has been stitched together from images taken back in April 2015 with the rover cameras - on Martian days (or sols) 952 and 953 after landing (a solar day on Mars is 24 hours and 39 minutes).

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It's a marvelous view: from outcroppings and smooth bedrock, to rounded buttes still in the distance. But to fully appreciate the details and the extraordinary 'presence' of Mars you have to poke around this 70-plus MB pixel file.

Here are a few closeups, and you can explore the whole image directly online here.

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