NASA’s Curiosity rover shares spectacular views of Mars – Space.com

New images snapped by NASA's Curiosity rover showcase the stunning, expansive landscape of Mars.

The robotic explorer, which launched to the Red Planet almost exactly 10 years ago on Nov. 26, 2011, continues to roam the Martian terrain. Recently, the Curiosity rover traveled to the side of Mars' Mount Sharp, or Aeolis Mons, a mountain that forms the central peak of Gale Crater. There, mission team members captured the beauty of the natural Martian landscape with Curiosity's navigation cameras.

However, the team "was so inspired by the beauty of the landscape, they combined two versions of the black-and-white images from different times of the day and added colors to create a rare postcard from the Red Planet," a statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reads.

The colorized image, which includes added blue, orange and green colors, can be seen above. The original black-and-white images can be seen below.

Video:Curiosity at Mars' Mount Sharp Take an incredible imagery tourRelated:Amazing Mars photos by NASA's Curiosity rover

Curiosity is not the newest robot on Mars, as NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Feb. 18, 2021. But since it landed in August 2012, Curiosity has been exploring the Martian surface, gathering valuable scientific data and incredible imagery; the rover is in great shape even almost exactly a decade after launch.

The rover landed inside Gale Crater on a mission to study the possibility that the crater was once capable of hosting life. The rover has discovered a lake and streams and, two years into its mission, reached the base of Mount Sharp, which stands 5 miles (8 kilometers) tall in the center of the crater.

In August, the rover arrived at a new region in its journey, one that is intriguing to scientists because of its mineral-rich rocks and materials that could reveal information about the planet's climate. The rover has thus far traveled over 16 miles (26 km) on the Red Planet and climbed over 1,500 feet (460 meters) above where it originally landed in the crater.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Read the original:

NASA's Curiosity rover shares spectacular views of Mars - Space.com