NASA's Curiosity rover has shared countless Mars photos in the 9+ years it's been on the Red Planet, and here in 2022, the rover's continuing to keep up that hard work. When people talk about Mars rovers today, the conversation often focuses on Perseverance. Perseverance arrived on Mars in February 2021 and is the most recent Martian rover NASA's launched. Along with its ability to collect rock samples, Perseverance's more modern camera technology also afford it to take some of the best Mars photos captured to date.
But that doesn't mean Perseverance is the only rover sharing incredible pictures of the Martian surface. Curiosity continues uploading new photos after more than 3300 sols of hard work. Since it landed on Mars in 2012, Curiosity's helped scientists find evidence of liquid water, locate organic carbon in Martian rocks, and learn valuable information about the atmosphere's lethal radiation. For a rover that was only supposed to last two years, it's safe to say Curiosity's gone above and beyond what it was initially designed to do.
Like Perseverance, Curiosity spends much of its time on Mars taking photos for NASA. Sometimes it captures gorgeous landscape shots, other times it looks at the planet's dunes, and it even takes pictures of itself. As part of its most recent photo dump, Curiosity shared a few images that offer an incredibly detailed look at Mars' surface. Curiosity took the above picture with its Chemistry & Camera instrument — often referred to as the ChemCam. It appears to be an up-close view of a Martian rock, revealing gorgeous details that would otherwise get overlooked. The ChemCam shows tiny specks all over the rock, beautiful lines throughout it, what appear to be small pebbles.
A Planet Filled With Dazzling Rock Formations
But that's not the only specimen Curiosity got a good look at. The rover also shared the second photo here. It's not as close of a shot as the first one, but it's still an excellent image in its own right. This one shows a rock that looks like it's jutting out of a large dune. As you can clearly see, it's made up of multiple layers and has a distinct curve on its left side. An even bigger rock is also visible above this one, and it appears to have the same type of layers.
The variety of Mars rocks is something Curiosity and Perseverance have proven repeatedly over the past year. The rovers have seen layered rocks, giant rocks, and even ones that look like worms and frogs. Many people often think of Mars as a bland and uninteresting planet, but in reality, its environment is filled with an unimaginable amount of character. It may not be friendly to human life, but it sure is a beautiful world to look at.