Looking Back at Tracks from Sol 24 Drive
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove about 70 feet (about 21 meters) on the mission's 21st Martian day, or sol (Aug. 30, 2012) and then took images with its Navigation Camera that are combined into this scene, which inclues the fresh tracks. The view is centered toward the west-northwest.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Portrait of APXS on Mars
This image shows the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on NASA's Curiosity rover, with the Martian landscape in the background. The image was taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera on the 32nd Martian day, or sol, of operations on the surface (Sept. 7, 2012, PDT or Sept. 8, 2012, UTC). APXS can be seen in the middle of the picture.
This image let researchers know that the APXS instrument had not become caked with dust during Curiosity's dusty landing.
Scientists enhanced the color in this version to show the Martian scene as it would appear under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS