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From Mars: Curiosity's Tracks, Up Close And From Above

By Mark Memmott
Published September 6, 2012 at 1:40 PM CDT
Curiosity's tracks on Mars, in an image taken from the rover.
NASA.gov
Curiosity's tracks on Mars, in an image taken from the rover.

NASA continues to share some fascinating photos of the Mars rover Curiosity. Among the latest:

-- An image taken from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that shows Curiosity's tracks from high above. According to NASA, "the image's color has been enhanced to show the surface details better."

Curiosity from above. It's the small object to the right. The rover's tracks extend up and back to the left.
/ NASA.gov
/
NASA.gov
Curiosity from above. It's the small object to the right. The rover's tracks extend up and back to the left.

-- From the rover itself, a look back at the tracks it has made so far as it moves across the surface.

The images have, of course, traveled a long way to get here. As NASA says: "At their closest, Earth and Mars can be no less than 54 million km [34 million miles] apart, while at their most distant they are as much as 400 million km [249 million miles] apart."

Our other posts about Curiosity are collected here. And for more, the report from NPR's Joe Palca on "How This Mission To Mars Is Different From Others."

(H/T to Joe.)

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
See stories by Mark Memmott