In this handout image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech, a view of Mount Sharp is seen in the distance taken by NASA's Curiosity rover front hazcam and transmitted to Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on August 6, 2012 in Pasadena, California. The MSL Rover named Curiosity is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbe. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech, a view of Mount Sharp is seen in the distance taken by NASA's Curiosity rover front hazcam and transmitted to Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on August 6, 2012 in Pasadena, California. The MSL Rover named Curiosity is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbe. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems, this view of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the afternoon of the first day after landing. In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. The image is murky because the MAHLI's removable dust cover is apparently coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover's terminal descent. Images taken without the dust cover in place are expected to during checkout of the robotic arm in coming weeks. The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity. This means it can, as shown here, also obtain pictures of the Martian landscape. The MSL Rover named Curiosity is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbe. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, a full-resolution color image from NASA's Curiosity Rover shows the pebble-covered surface of Mars. It was taken by the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) several minutes after Curiosity touched down. The camera is about 30 inches (70 centimeters) from the surface as the rover sits on the ground. The image pixel scale is about 0.02 inches (0.5 millimeters), but the camera is slightly out of focus at this distance, so the actual ground scale is about 0.06 inches (1.5 millimeters). A sliver of sunlight passing through the structure of the rover illuminates the surface. The largest rock fragment in the image is about 2 inches (5 centimeters) long. Most are much smaller. A rover wheel is visible at the top left. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, the four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with NASA's Curiosity rover are spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image about 24 hours after landing. The large, reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield was the first piece to hit the ground, followed by the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself touched down, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed. The relatively dark areas in all four spots are from disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material below the surface dust. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, are the first two full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover, which are located on the rover's "head" or mast. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground. The topography of the rim is very mountainous due to erosion. The ground seen in the middle shows low-relief scarps and plains. The foreground shows two distinct zones of excavation likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltechvia Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, the darkened radial jets caused by the impact of Curiosity's sky crane, which helped deliver the rover to the surface, can be seen on Mars. The image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about 24 hours after landing. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, a 3-D view behind NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars on August 5, is captured. The anaglyph was made from a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance Cameras on the rear of the rover. Part of the rim of the Gale Crater, which is a feature the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, stretches from the top middle to the top right of the image. One of the rover's wheels can be seen at bottom right. The bright spot is saturation from the sun. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, a comparison shows a view through a Hazard-Avoidance camera on NASA's Curiosity rover before and after the clear dust cover was removed. Both images were taken by a camera at the front of the rover. Mount Sharp, the mission's ultimate destination, looms ahead. The view on the left, with the dust cover on, is one quarter of full resolution, while the view on the right is full resolution. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, is the first image taken by the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover. It shows the shadow of the rover's now-upright mast in the center, and the arm's shadow at left. The arm itself can be seen in the foreground. The navigation camera is used to help find the sun -- information that is needed for locating, and communicating, with Earth. After the camera pointed at the sun, it turned in the opposite direction and took this picture. The position of the shadow helps confirm the sun's location. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, the rover Curiosity's parachute and back shell are strewn across the surface of Mars. The image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about 24 hours after the parachute helped guide the rover to the surface. When the back shell impacted the ground, bright dust was kicked up, exposing darker material underneath. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, a 3-D view in front of NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars on August 5, is captured. The anaglyph was made from a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance Cameras on the front of the rover. Mount Sharp, a peak that is about 5.5 miles (3.4 miles) high, is visible rising above the terrain, though in one "eye" a box on the rover holding the drill bits obscures the view. This image was captured by Hazard-Avoidance cameras on the front of the rover at full resolution shortly after the rover landed. It has been linearized to remove the distorted appearance that results from its fisheye lens. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, a Picasso-like self portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover was taken by its Navigation cameras, located on the now-upright mast. The camera snapped pictures 360-degrees around the rover, while pointing down at the rover deck, up and straight ahead. Those images are shown here in a polar projection. Most of the tiles are thumbnails, or small copies of the full-resolution images that have not been sent back to Earth yet. Two of the tiles are full-resolution. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, a color full-resolution image shows the heat shield of NASA's Curiosity rover and was obtained during descent to the surface of Mars on August 5. The image was obtained by the Mars Descent Imager instrument known as MARDI and shows the 15-foot (4.5-meter) diameter heat shield when it was about 50 feet (16 meters) from the spacecraft. This image shows the inside surface of the heat shield, with its protective multi-layered insulation. The bright patches are calibration targets for MARDI. Also seen in this image is the Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrument (MEDLI) hardware attached to the inside surface. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS via Getty Images)
NASA's Curiosity Rover Captures Mars
In this handout image provided by NASA and released on August 8, 2012, this is the location (green) where scientists estimate NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars within Gale Crater, based on images from the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). The landing estimates derived from navigation and landing data agree to within 660 feet (200 meters) of this MARDI estimate. The red line shows the northern edge of the targeted landing region, a probability distribution defined by an ellipse. The gray scale image is a mosaic from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The color image is from MARDI. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona via Getty Images)
