See other posts from January 2013

Pretty picture: new HiRISE view of Curiosity, sol 145

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

2013/01/16 04:58 CST

Topics: mission status, pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a new view of Curiosity on Mars on January 2 (sol 145). Curiosity was in the same location as the one from which it shot the sol 137 panorama I posted earlier. You can see the rover's tracks leading all the way back to the landing site!

Here's a wide view:

NASA / JPL / UA

Curiosity on Mars from HiRISE, sol 145

HiRISE shot this view of Curiosity and its tracks, leading all the way back to the landing site, on January 2, 2013 (sol 145). Curiosity was in Yellowknife Bay, at the site from which it took the "Grandma's House" panorama.

Here's a tighter view, zooming in on those tracks:

NASA / JPL / UA / annotated by Emily Lakdawalla

Some of Curiosity's tracks visible in the sol 145 HiRISE image (annotated)

And here's a zoom at the highest possible resolution, showing the rover.

For comparison, here's the panorama Curiosity shot from that position:

NASA / JPL / MSSS / Damia Bouic

Curiosity panorama at "Grandma's House," sol 137

On sol 137 (December 24, 2012), Curiosity sat inside a depression named "Yellowknife Bay." The "shore" of Yellowknife Bay is a layer of rock that makes a distinctive step down. This view is composed of left Mastcam (Mastcam-34) images.

How amazing is this??