- NASA Home
- > Missions
- > Msl
- > Multimedia
Browse Archive
-
Potential Sources and Sinks of Methane on Mars
If the atmosphere of Mars contains methane, various possibilities have been proposed for where the methane could come from and how it could disappear.
› View Image
Potential non-biological sources for... -
Volatiles on Mars
This illustration shows the locations and interactions of volatiles on Mars. Volatiles are molecules that readily evaporate, converting to their gaseous form, such as water and carbon dioxide. On Mars...
› View Image -
Weighing Molecules on Mars
The plot on the left shows new results from the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover. The instrument measured levels of different gas isotopes in the atmosphere. Isoto...
› View Image -
High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera
On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-p...
› View Image -
X-ray Diffraction, Big and Small
A conventional X-ray diffraction instrument (left) is the size of a large refrigerator, in contrast to the compact size of the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover (t...
› View Image -
Detector for CheMin
This charged couple device (CCD) is part of the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover. When CheMin directs X-rays at a sample of soil, this imager, which is the size o...
› View Image -
Shake it up, CheMin
This image shows the cells that hold the soil samples that are vibrated by the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover. When the rover delivers samples to CheMin, they a...
› View Image -
Wind-Blown Martian Sand
This pair of images from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the upper portion of a wind-blown deposit dubbed "Rocknest." The rover team recently commanded Curiosity to take a scoop of soi...
› View Image -
Curiosity Digs In
This pair of images shows a "bite mark" where NASA's Curiosity rover scooped up some Martian soil (left), and the scoop carrying soil. The first scoop sample was taken from the "Rocknest" patch of dus...
› View Image -
First X-ray View of Martian Soil
This graphic shows results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) experiment on NASA's Curiosity rover. The image reveals the presence of crystalline feldspar, ...
› View Image -
Olivine on Earth
The Martian soil examined by the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the diffraction signature, or "fingerprint," of the mineral olivine, shown here on Earth i...
› View Image -
Dust Devils Stirring It Up
This set of images from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows dust devils tearing across the Martian landscape inside Gusev Crater. These wind-driven events stir up the soil and can be part of gl...
› View Image -
Rock 'Burwash' Near Curiosity, Sol 82
This focus-merge image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a rock called "Burwash." The rock has a coating of dust on it. The coarser, visible grains...
› View Image -
Rock 'Et-Then' Near Curiosity, Sol 82
The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of a rock called "Et-Then" during the mission's 82nd sol, or Martian day (Oct. 29, 2012.)
› View Image
The r... -
New York City Students Trace 'Red Road to Mars'
Scenes of the Curiosity rover, the space shuttle, and the famed NASA "meatball" logo adorn a mural at P.S. 328 in Brooklyn, New York. School officials, NASA scientists, and Brooklyn-based recording ar...
› View Image -
Bright Particle in Hole Dug by Scooping of Martian Soil
This image shows part of the small pit or bite created when NASA's Mars rover Curiosity collected its second scoop of Martian soil at a sandy patch called "Rocknest." The bright particle near the cent...
› View Image -
First Sample Placed on Curiosity's Observation Tray
The robotic arm on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity delivered a sample of Martian soil to the rover's observation tray for the first time during the mission's 70th Martian day, or sol (Oct. 16, 2012). This...
› View Image -
Curiosity's First Three Bites Into Martian Ground
Three bite marks left in the Martian ground by the scoop on the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity are visible in this image taken by the rover's right Navigation Camera during the mission's 6...
› View Image -
Bright Particle of Martian Origin in Scoop Hole
This image contributed to an interpretation by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity science team that some of the bright particles on the ground near the rover are native Martian material. Other light-toned ma...
› View Image -
Small Debris on the Ground Beside Curiosity
This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a small bright object on the ground beside the rover at the "Rocknest" site. The object is just below the ...
› View Image