Full-Circle View Near ‘Marias Pass’ on Mars

This 360-degree panorama shows the "Marias Pass" area, at center, and part of the slope that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover climbed to get there, at right.

The scene combines multiple images taken by Curiosity's Navigation Camera (Navcam) on May 22, 2105, during the 992nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. North is at both ends; south is in the middle. On the previous sol, Curiosity reached this location by climbing a slope with steepness of up to 20 degrees. From this location, the rover's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument examined a rock target called "Elk" and found its composition to be about 80 percent silica.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Curiosity project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL built the rover and Navcam. More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.