Curiosity Rover Updates 

These updates are provided by self-selected Mars Science Laboratory mission team members who love to share what Curiosity is doing with the public. Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

A grayscale photo from the Martian surface shows very rocky and hilly terrain. A gentle slope from lower right to the upper left corner of the image fills more than three-quarters of the frame, with dark gray soil covered in a multitude of lighter-toned rocks of different sizes and shapes, many of them quite large, pushing up from the ground. In the distant background, another hill rises up near the upper right corner of the frame.

Sols 4391-4392: Rounding the Bend

3 min read

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 For planning today, we have a beautiful view of the northern tip of Texoli, as seen in the image foreground. Unfortunately, the rocks that make the view so pretty also made it unsafe…

Article1 day ago
A grayscale image shows a patch of rough, slightly wavy terrain with several flat, jagged areas emerging from the surface and all pointing toward the lower left corner of the frame. The area looks like a patch of peanut butter or frosting, with wavy lines and peaks left by a spreader.

Sols 4389-4390: A Wealth of Ripples, Nodules and Veins

3 min read

Earth planning date: Monday, Dec. 9, 2024 We are continuing to edge our way around the large “Texoli” butte. Much of the bedrock we have been traversing recently looks pretty similar — paler-colored laminated bedrock — but today’s workspace had…

Article2 days ago
A grayscale photograph of the Martian surface shows very uneven rocky terrain, with bright-toned, flat, lined and multi-angled rocks covering the surface, with darker soil in between, looking like the entire foreground stretching off into the distance had shattered. In the background, about three quarters of the way up the frame, is a darker, smoother feature rising from the ground and extending all the way across the frame, and beyond that is a lighter, distant band of peaks, resembling a ghostly pale fog bank.

Sols 4386-4388: Powers of Ten

3 min read

Earth planning date: Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 We successfully arrived in our new exploration quadrangle — the Altadena quad — which is named after a town on Earth very near our own Jet Propulsion Laboratory! The names from this quad…

Article3 days ago
A grayscale landscape photo from Mars, showing a broad, medium gray, rock-strewn plain in the foreground extending far into the distance, surrounded by hills. The closest hill, on the right, rises up toward the side of the frame, and is darker than the floor below. It has distinct dark ridges from bottom to top, looking like it is made of stacked layers. A little farther out, on the left, a gentle slope rises from the low middle of the frame to middle of the left side; it’s about the same color as the valley floor, except for a band at its farthest edge, which darkens abruptly as if covered in shadow. The terrain appears softer than the ground below, more sandy than rocky. Beyond that along the same rising plane is a much lighter area, with scattered tiny peaks that are darker — looking like whipped peanut butter.The channel floor runs between these hills, then appears to curve toward the right, behind the first hill and in front of the second. All of this is below a light-gray sky filling the top third of the frame.

Sols 4384-4385: Leaving the Bishop Quad

3 min read

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 As the Curiosity rover climbs west toward the broad saddle separating Gediz Vallis from its neighboring canyon on the slopes of Mount Sharp, the rover is also approaching the edge of its current…

Article7 days ago
A grayscale photograph of the Martian landscape shows a flat field covered in jagged rocks extending from the foreground at the bottom of the frame, to a line about one-sixth of the way up the frame, where it reaches a rock feature rising from the ground. That feature, a butte composed of rock layers, resembles a stack of rugs, angled with the lowest layers on the right and subsequent layers shifting to the left as it grows higher.

Sols 4382-4383: Team Work, Dream Work

3 min read

Earth planning date: Monday, Dec. 2, 2024 Today, after a weeklong holiday break, the team was eager to take a look at Curiosity’s new workspace. After driving 51 meters (about 167 feet) alongside Texoli butte (pictured) we had a whole…

Article1 week ago
A closeup, grayscale photograph from the Martian surface shows a flat rock with raised polygonal ridges on its surface – mainly pentagons, hexagons, and rectangles – dominating most of the frame. Small areas of the surrounding soil, in a darker shade of gray, are visible in the upper right and lower left corners of the image.

Sols 4375-4381: A Stuffed Holiday Plan

3 min read

Earth planning date: Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 Today we planned a mammoth seven-sol plan, to cover the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday period. Unfortunately, our weekend drive ended a little early and we didn’t receive all of our needed confirmation imagery. At…

Article2 weeks ago
A closeup, grayscale photograph of the Martian surface shows an area of fine soil, medium gray, surrounding several lighter-toned, large, jagged rocks.

Sols 4732-4735: I’ll Zap You, My Pretty, and Your Pebble Too

3 min read

Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 For more than a year, NASA’s Curiosity rover has been climbing through layers of sulfate-rich rock in Gale Crater, where alternating thick light- and dark-toned bands are visible by satellite. After a successful…

Article2 weeks ago
A grayscale photograph of the Martian surface from the Curiosity rover captures medium gray, very uneven terrain in front of the rover, with many angular, lighter-toned, medium-sized rocks protruding from the smooth soil. The bottom of the frame shows part of the rover, running from the middle left to the lower right corner of the image, including part of its robotic arm which carries a nameplate imprinted with “Curiosity” outlined in all capital letters, and to the right of that a line drawing of the rover.

Sol 4370-4371: All About the Polygons

2 min read

Earth planning date: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024 We planned two very full sols today! The sol 4369 drive completed successfully, and the rover was in a stable enough position that we could unstow the arm — something we don’t take…

Article3 weeks ago
A grayscale photograph of the Martian surface shows, in the foreground, medium gray soil that looks like wind-blown sand dunes, with a few rounded, medium-sized rocks poking up from the ground. Beyond this area, and covering the upper half of the frame in this circular image, is much more rocky terrain, with both sharp and rounded rocks of all sizes covering the ground.

Sols 4368-4369: The Colors of Fall – and Mars

3 min read

Earth planning date: Monday, Nov. 18, 2024 I am in the U.K., where we are approaching the time when trees are just branches and twigs. One tree that still has its full foliage is my little quince tree in my…

Article3 weeks ago
A grayscale landscape photo from Mars, showing a broad, medium gray, rock-strewn plain in the foreground extending far into the distance, surrounded by several hills. The closest hill, in the lower right corner, rises up toward the side of the frame, and is darker than the floor below. A little farther out, on the left, a gentle slope rises from the low middle of the frame to middle of the left side; it’s about the same color as the valley floor, except for a band at its farthest edge, which darkens abruptly as if covered in shadow. The terrain appears softer than the ground below, more sandy than rocky. Beyond that along the same rising plane is a much lighter area, with scattered tiny peaks that are darker – looking like the top of a baked meringue pie. The channel floor runs between these hills, then appears to curve toward the right, behind the first hill and in front of the second. Finally, one other rounded peak appears above the horizon, behind these other two hills in the lower right of the frame, all of this below a light-gray sky filling more than half of the frame above.

Sols 4366–4367: One of Those Days on Mars (Sulfate-Bearing Unit to the West of Upper Gediz Vallis)

3 min read

Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 The Monday plan and drive had executed successfully, so the team had high hopes for APXS and MAHLI data on several enticing targets in the rover’s workspace. Alas, it was not to be:…

Article4 weeks ago