The base of Mount Sharp, the Curiosity rover's eventual destination on Mars

This high-resolution color picture shows the base of Mount Sharp, the Curiosity rover’s eventual destination on Mars. A chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this postcard from NASA’s Curiosity rover.  Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Nasa releases first high-res colour images of the Red Planet



This image is a portion of a larger image taken by Curiosity’s 100-millimeter Mast Camera on Aug. 23, 2012. See PIA16104.   Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Nasa releases first high-res colour images of the Red Planet

This image taken by the Mast Camera (MastCam) on NASA’s Curiosity rover highlights the interesting geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater, where the rover landed. Prior to the rover’s landing on Mars, observations from orbiting satellites indicated that the lower reaches of Mount Sharp, below the line of white dots, are composed of relatively flat-lying strata that bear hydrated minerals.

The MastCam data now reveal a strong discontinuity in the strata above and below the line of white dots, agreeing with the data from orbit.   Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS



via NASA