Rocky Mars Ground Where Curiosity Has Been Driving (Stereo)

December 20, 2013

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. It spans 360 degrees, with south at the center and north at both ends.

This drive brought the mission's total driving distance to 3.86 miles (4.61 kilometers). The rock-studded terrain Curiosity has traversed since October 2013 appears to have accelerated the pace of wear and tear on the rover's wheels. Future drives may be charted to cross smoother ground where available.

This seam-corrected mosaic is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at https://www.nasa.gov/msl and https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

Image source: https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA17584