In an image captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Martian rover Curiosity can been seen as a bright blue speck ascending the rocky terrain of Mount Sharp.
The image was taken by the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on June 5 and shared online this week.
Curiosity spent the end of last month and early June exploring active sand dunes among the mountain's lower elevations. In the newly released image, the rover can been seen en route to Vera Rubin Ridge.
Once at Vera Rubin Ridge, the rover will investigate rock outcrops where the signature of hematite, a type of iron oxide, has been identified by the infrared spectrometers during previous Martian probe missions.
On August 5, Curiosity will celebrate the five-year anniversary of its landing on Mount Sharp.
NASA Finds Evidence of Diverse Environments in Curiosity Samples
NASA scientists have found a wide diversity of minerals in the initial samples of rocks collected by the Curiosity rover in the lowermost layers of Mount Sharp on Mars, suggesting that conditions changed in the water environments on the planet over time.
Curiosity landed near Mount Sharp in Gale Crater in August 2012. It reached the base of the mountain in 2014. Layers of rocks at the base … read more
