Mars Rover Curiosity in Artist's Concept, Close-up

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.


In this picture, the mast, or rover's "head," rises to about 2.1 m (6.9 feet) above ground level, about as tall as a basketball player. This mast supports two remote-sensing instruments: the Mast Camera, or "eyes," for stereo color viewing of surrounding terrain and material collected by the arm; and, the ChemCam instrument, which is a laser that vaporizes material from rocks up to about 9 m (30 feet) away and determines what elements the rocks are made of.


Last Update: 24 Jun 2011 (PWD)

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech