Mars Rover Exploration

Photographs of NASA's Mars rovers navigating the Martian surface, focusing on rock formations and scientific equipment in a reddish landscape.

Panoramic photograph taken on Mars by the Viking 2 Astrobiology Field Laboratory, a spacecraft that was to conduct a robotic search for life on Mars. Dated 21st Century

Sojourner near Barnacle

Panoramic photograph taken on Mars by the Viking 2 Astrobiology Field Laboratory, a spacecraft that was to conduct a robotic search for life on Mars. Dated 21st Century

Big Joe in the Chryse Planitia

This 1997 image from NASA's Mars Pathfinder shows a close up of Sojourner as it placed its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) upon the surface of the rock 'Yogi.'

This Martian scene from NASA's Mars rover Opportunity shows contrasting textures and colors of 'Hinners Point,' at the northern edge of 'Marathon Valley,' and swirling reddish zones on the valley floor to the left.

Mars

A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover taken on Sol 2082 (June 15, 2018). A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover's location in Gale Crater. Self-portraits are created using images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hands Lens Imager (MAHLI).

This image superimposes an artist's concept of the Mars Exploration RoverOpportunity on the rim of Victoria Crater. It is done to give a sense of scale

This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the site from which it reached down to drill into a rock target called 'Buckskin' on lower Mount Sharp.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to capture this view approximately true-color view of the rim of Endeavour crater, the rover's destination in a multi-year traverse along the sandy Martian landscape.

Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet

Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.. Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet

September 28, 2006 - This view of Victoria crater is looking north from Duck Bay towards the dramatic promontory called Cape Verde. The dramatic cliff of layered rocks is about 50 meters (about 165 feet) away from the rover and is about 6 meters (about 20 feet) tall. The taller promontory beyond that is about 100 meters (about 325 feet) away, and the vista beyond that extends away for more than 400 meters (about 1300 feet) into the distance. This is an approximately true color rendering of imag

Twin Peaks in Super Resolution - Right Eye

astronauts explore a barren moon on a rover.

High angle view of Mars Rover on the surface of Mars

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at Namib Dune, where the rover's activities included scuffing into the dune with a wheel and scooping samples of sand for laboratory analysis. The scene combines 57 images taken on Jan. 19, 2016, during the 1,228th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The camera used for this is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Namib Dune is part of the dark-sand Bagnold Dune Field along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. Images taken from orbit have shown that dunes in the Bagnold field move as much as about 3 feet (1 meter) per Earth year. The location of Namib Dune is show on a map of Curiosity's route at http //mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/ ImageID=7640. The relationship of Bagnold Dune Field to the lower portion of Mount Sharp is shown in a map at PIA16064. The view does not include the rover's arm. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquir

Newly Deployed Sojourner Rover

A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this color view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The rover's first destination on the rim, called 'Spirit Point' in tribute to Opportunity's now-inactive twin, Spirit.

Astronaut Man goes in the desert with mountains in Mars Trip to Red Planets Landscape of Red Planets Mars 1102806083

Surface of Mars, artwork. Mars is a rocky desert world with no surface water, its landscape typified by boulders, impact craters, sand dunes, mesas, c...

Mars Rover

This view NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back at the southern end of 'Cape Tribulation' from about two football fields' distance away.

Large Boulders at Landing Site

Layers of 'Cape Verde' in 'Victoria Crater' (False Color)

Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at a drilled sample site called 'Okoruso,' on the 'Naukluft Plateau' of lower Mount Sharp.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this view uphill toward 'Cumberland Ridge' on 'Husband Hill.' 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

Two name plates mounted on the Mars Perseverance rover's robotic arm are visible in this composite image, made from photos taken by the rover's left Navcam on Sol 12 of its mission (March 2, 2021). The rover's name, Perseverance, is inscribed on the plate attached to its forearm, and the mission name, Mars 2020, is shown on its upper arm. Running vertically along the right side of the mission name plate is a string of 17 letters and numbers. These characters form a unique product identification number (PIN) similar to the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on vehicles on Earth, but signifying that this is an off-road vehicle. Issued in part by the Society of Automotive Engineers, a PIN or VIN number provides a unique vehicle identifier, while encoding information about the vehicle's characteristics and manufacture. Perseverance's PIN can be decoded to reveal clues about its destination, mission objective and power source.

Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet

Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 13868631

Martian Horizon

This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Curiosity is being tested in preparation for launch in the fall of 2011.

Soil Delivery to Phoenix Oven

Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 16000564

Rover, Airbags & Martian Terrain

Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 15570777

This computer graphic image shows three craters in the eastern Hellas region of Mars containing concealed glaciers detected by radar.

This image shows the round, metallic working end of the rock abrasion tool at the end of a metallic cylinder. The flat grinding face, attached brush, and much of the smooth, metallic exterior of cylinder are covered with a deep reddish-brown layer of dust

This image of a camera going through the Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on NASA's Phoenix lander. At the end of the animation is an approximate color mosaic taken by Phoenix's SSI camera.

This artist's conception depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander a moment before its touchdown on the arctic plains of Mars.

Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14993699

First Color Image From Viking Lander 1

glacial craters on Mars

Portion of Enhanced 360-degree Gallery Pan

alien spaceship rotate over desert. ufo alien spaceship rotate over desert. ufo landscape. ufo Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 12886617

This scene shows the 'Murray Ridge' portion of the western rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars, as seen by NASA's Opportunity rover. It is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see.

A close up of NASA's Sojourner as it placed its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) upon the surface of the rock 'Yogi.' Distortion in the background is due to parallax.

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander

This artist's concept depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of a rock surface.

This false-color scene from the Pancam on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back toward part of the west rim of Endeavour Crater that the rover drove along, heading southward, during the summer of 2014.

Perseverance Cores 'Berea'. This animation shows NASA's Perseverance Mars rover collecting a rock sample from an outcrop the science team calls Berea using a coring bit on the end of its robotic arm. The sample was collected on March 30, 2023, the 749th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The images were taken by one of the rover's front hazard cameras. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which incl

Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet

American Flag and DVD on Mars

Rover Exploring A Valley On Mars

A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The view is presented in false color to emphasize differences among materials in the rocks and the soils.

NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to acquire this view of 'Solander Point.' The southward-looking scene, presented in true color, shows Solander Point on the center horizon.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this 3-D navigation camera mosaic of the crater called 'Bonneville.' The rover's solar panels can be seen in the foreground. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

The left eye of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), during the 30th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 5, 2012).

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will be in free fall after it separates from its back shell and parachute, but not for long.

The Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), located on the robotic arm of NASA's InSight lander, took this picture of the Martian surface on Nov. 26, 2018, the same day the spacecraft touched down on the Red Planet. The camera's transparent dust cover is still on in this image, to prevent particulates kicked up during landing from settling on the camera's lens. This image was relayed from InSight to Earth via NASA's Odyssey spacecraft, currently orbiting Mars.

This image shows how NASA's three-legged Phoenix Mars Lander is able to get a better look at its footing and the physical characteristics of the underlying soil on the surface of the Red Planet.

Mars rover on the surface of Mars, Phoenix Mars Lander

The robotic arm on NASA's InSight lander deployed its Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument on the Martian surface on Feb. 12, 2019. Movie available at

Artist's concept of NASA's Artist's concept of Mars Exploration Rover (MER) from December, 2002.

This view of the lower front and underbelly areas of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was taken by the rover's MAHLI camera during Sept. 9, 2012. Also visible are the hazard avoidance cameras on the front of the rover.

This view of the lower front and underbelly areas of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines nine images taken by the rover's MAHLI camera during the 34th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars.

This panorama, taken on Feb. 20, 2021, by the Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, was stitched together from six individual images after they were sent back to Earth. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Subsequent missions, currently under consideration by NASA in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (left) serves to compare it with Spirit, one of NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers

Martian Surface at an Angle

This is NASA InSight's second full selfie on Mars. Since taking its first selfie, the lander has removed its heat probe and seismometer from its deck, placing them on the Martian surface; a thin coating of dust now covers the spacecraft as well. This selfie is a mosaic made up of 14 images taken on March 15 and April 11 - the 106th and 133rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission - by InSight's Instrument Deployment Camera, located on its robotic arm. InSight's first selfie showed its instruments still on the deck. Now that they're removed, the viewer can see the spacecraft's air pressure sensor (white object in center), the tether box for its seismometer and the tether for its heat probe running across the deck. Also visible is its robotic arm and grapple.

These sets of images were taken between March 13 and 15, 2021 (the 22nd and 24th Martian days, or sols, of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance mission) show doors opening and closing on parts of the Sample Caching System aboard the rover. Perseverance's Sample Caching System consists of three robotic components that will work in concert to collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), seal them in tubes, and deposit those tubes on the surface of Mars for retrieval by a future mission. Perseverance is the first rover to bring a sample caching system to Mars. The first set of images, taken by Perseverance's Navigation Cameras, shows a door opening on the upper part of the bit carousel, a flying-saucer-like component that stores drill bits for the system's coring tool. It transfers bits with empty sample tubes onto the rover's robotic arm and also collects bits containing filled sample tubes from the coring tool. The second set of images shows a door opening on the lower part of

Astronaut sitting on a deck chair on Mars, illustration

Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet

Spaceman walks on the red planet Mars. Space Mission. Astronaut travel in space. Spaceman walks on the red planet Mars. Space Mission

Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 13868694

Space craft above planet surface, illustration.

lunar landing mission on the Moon. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. lunar landing mission on the Moon

This scene shows the 'Murray Ridge' portion of the western rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars as seen by NASA's rover Opportunity; this feature is called Murray Ridge in tribute to Bruce Murray (1931-2013), an influential advocate for planetary exploration.

Morning Frost on Martian Surface

An Apollo 17 Astronaut and Lunar Rover in a Moon Valley

Picking up Clues from the Discard Pile

NASA'S Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this westward view from atop a low plateau where Sprit spent the closing months of 2007. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

Illustration of astronauts setting up a base on the Martian surface around their lander vehicle

This illustration shows a simulated view of NASA's InSight lander kicking up dust as it lands on the Martian surface.

The shadow of NASA InSight's robotic arm moves over its heat probe, or mole, on Nov. 3, 2019, the 333rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Animation available at

Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet

Vivid Colors of the Viking Lander 1 Scene

Apollo 17 - A Photographic Mistakes Colors the Moon's Sky

Space craft landing on planet surface, illustration.

Mars exploration, conceptual illustration

El Capitan' on Mars

alien spaceship rotate over desert. ufo alien spaceship rotate over desert. ufo landscape. ufo Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14600915

Three craters in the eastern Hellas region of Mars

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will open its solar arrays 20 minutes after it touches down on the surface of Mars.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity examined rocks inside an alcove called 'Duck Bay' in the western portion of Victoria Crater. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

This mosaic taken by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover looks uphill at Mount Sharp, which Curiosity has been climbing. Spanning the center of the image is an area with clay-bearing rocks that scientists are eager to explore; it could shed additional light on the role of water in creating Mount Sharp. The mosaic was assembled from dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). It was taken on Sol 1931 back in January. Mount Sharp stands in the middle of Gale Crater, which is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter. This mound, which Curiosity has been climbing since 2014, likely formed in the presence of water at various points of time in Mars ancient history. That makes it an ideal place to study how water influenced the habitability of Mars billions of years ago. The scene has been white-balanced so the colors of the rock materials resemble how they would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.

Gusev Rocks Solidified from Lava (False Color)

. Perseverance Rover Watches Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's 54th Flight. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this video of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's 54th flight on Aug. 3, 2023. After performing a preflight wiggle check with its rotors, the helicopter takes off, hovers at an altitude of 16 feet (5 meters), and rotates to the left, before touching back down. The mission conducted the short pop-up flight to check Ingenuity's navigation system. The video was captured by the rover's Mastcam-Z imager from a distance of about 180 feet (55 meters). Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, inc

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