Mars Exploration Robots

Images of NASA's Mars rovers exploring the Martian landscape, showcasing rugged terrain, mountainous features, and the quest for scientific discovery.

NASA's Curiosity rover climbing to the summit of Mount Sharp, its ultimate destination. The floor of Gale Crater, its landing place, is five kilometres below.

NASA's Curiosity rover climbing to the summit of Mount Sharp, its ultimate destination. The floor of Gale Crater, its landing place, is five kilometres below.

Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14238529

Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14546926

This oblique view of the lower mound in Gale crater shows layers of rock that preserve a record of environments on Mars.

MISSION TO MARS (2000), directed by BRIAN DE PALMA.

Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 13813174

This illustration shows NASA astronauts working on the surface of Mars. A helicopter similar to the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is airborne at left. Ingenuity is being carried aboard the Perseverance rover; it will be deployed to the Martian surface in the weeks after landing to test whether future helicopters could accompany robotic and human missions.

Surface of Mars

In this illustration, NASA's Perseverance rover uses its Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) instrument to analyze a rock on the surface of Mars. PIXL uses a focused X-ray beam to analyze the chemistry of features as small as a grain of sand. The tiny but powerful beam causes rocks to fluoresce, or produce a glow. While the glow is invisible to the human eye, it is detectable by the instrument and varies according to the rock's elemental chemistry. PIXL scan the beam across the surface of the rock to produce a postage-stamp-sized map of the rock's chemistry at the end of an overnight scan. PIXL also has an optical fiducial system (OFS) that includes white flood lights seen on the rock in this artist's concept that is used together with a pattern of red lasers to illuminate the rock while its camera captures images of the mapped area. The pictures are used for multiple purposes PIXL analyzes them on board to work out where the target is in 3D and move itself int

Mosaic of Mermaid

Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet

Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet

Martian Rover Curiosity sent this view of Martian Dune After Crossing It 2014

Summerday from Mars

in danakil ethiopia africa the volcanic depression of dallol lake and acid sulfer like in mars

Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet

Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14748881

Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 13868697

Stitched together from 28 images, this view from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover was captured on April 9, 2020, the 2,729th Martian day, or sol, of the mission after the rover ascended a steep slope, part of a geologic feature called Greenheugh Pediment. In the foreground is the crusty sandstone cap that stretches the length of the pediment, forming an overhanging ledge in some parts. At center is the clay-bearing unit, a region with a unique story to tell about the history of water on Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain Curiosity has been ascending since 2014. In the distance at the top of the image is the floor of Gale Crater, which is 96 miles (154 kilometers) wide.

This is an artist's interpretation of the area surrounding Huygens landing site, based on images and data returned Jan. 14, 2005. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

A scorched space capsule lies abandoned on a barren world.

This scene from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows 'Wharton Ridge,' which forms part of the southern wall of 'Marathon Valley' on the western rim of Endeavour Crater.

Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 13813169

Mastcam-Z's View of 'Pinestand'. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this mosaic of an isolated hill nicknamed Pinestand. Scientists think sedimentary layers stacked on top of one another here could have been formed by a deep, fast-moving river. But uncertainty about their formation remains because the layers are exceptionally tall by Earth geology standards to have been created by a river - some standing 66 feet (20 meters) high. The mosaic was captured by Perseverance's Mastcam-Z camera on Feb. 26, 2023, the 718th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The mosaic was stitched together from 18 individual Mastcam-Z images after they were sent back to Earth. This natural color view is approximately how the scene would appear to an average person if they were on Mars. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in

The comet of 2014 makes a close approach to Mars and puts on a spectacular show for the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover.

Sunset on Mars, illustration

In this illustration of a Mars sample return mission concept, a lander carrying a fetch rover touches down on the surface of Mars. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are solidifying concepts for a Mars sample return mission after NASA's Mars 2020 rover collects rock and soil samples, storing them in sealed tubes on the planet's surface for future return to Earth. NASA will deliver a Mars lander in the vicinity of Jezero Crater, where Mars 2020 will have collected and cached samples. The lander will carry a NASA rocket (the Mars Ascent Vehicle), along with ESA's Sample Fetch Rover that is roughly the size of NASA's Opportunity Mars rover. The fetch rover will gather the cached samples and carry them back to the lander for transfer to the ascent vehicle; additional samples could also be delivered directly by Mars 2020. The ascent vehicle will then launch a special container holding the samples into Mars orbit. ESA will put a spacecraft in orbit around Mars before the ascent vehicle

Surface of Mars, artwork. Mars is a rocky desert world with no surface water, its landscape typified by boulders, impact craters, sand dunes, mesas, c...

Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Curiosity Mars Rover exploring the surface of red planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14361540

In February 2021, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (shown in an artist's concept) will be the agency's two newest explorers on Mars. Both were named by students as part of an essay contest. Perseverance is the most sophisticated rover NASA has ever sent to Mars. Ingenuity, a technology experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. Perseverance will arrive at Mars' Jezero Crater with Ingenuity attached to its belly.

Astronauts on Mars

Perseverance Samples 'Berea'. This image shows the rocky outcrop the Perseverance science team calls Berea after the NASA Mars rover extracted a rock core (right) and abraded a circular patch (left). The image was taken by one of the rover's front hazard cameras on March 30, 2023, the 749th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Perseverance grinds, or abrades, circular patches into rocks so its science instruments can analyze the rocks' composition. The rock core it obtained, about the size of a piece of classroom chalk, was sealed in an ultra-clean sample tube. It is currently being stored in the rover's Sampling and Caching System. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA

After the zoomable dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA's Perseverance rover captured the third flight of the agency's Ingenuity Mars helicopter on April 25, 2021, Justin Maki, an imaging scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, led the team that stitched the images into a video. The frames of the video were then reprojected to optimize viewing in an anaglyph, or an image seen in 3D when viewed with color-filtered glasses. Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation

Curiosity Mars rover, computer artwork.

When NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter attempts its first test flight on the Red Planet, the agency's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will be close by, as seen in this artist's concept. Ingenuity, a technology experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. When it attempts its test flights on Mars in spring 2021, Ingenuity will remain within a 0.6-mile (1-kilometer) radius of Perseverance so it can communicate wirelessly with the rover. Perseverance then communicates with relay orbiters around Mars that send the signal back to Earth.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander monitors the atmosphere overhead and reaches out to the soil below in this artist's depiction of the spacecraft fully deployed on the surface of Mars.

Artwork on an astronaut on the Red Planet, Mars, some time in the future.

Possible Meteorite in 'Columbia Hills' on Mars

Mining on Mars Huge Martian excavator exploiting resources on mars Copyright: xZoonar.com/PaulxFleetx 5028308

This image shows the approximate true position of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. A 3-D virtual model of Curiosity is shown inside Gale Crater, near Mount Sharp, Curiosity's ultimate destination.

Mars base settlement with advanced structures and spacecraft

Partial 'Seminole' Panorama (False Color)

This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a dark sand dune in the middle distance. Mount Sharp will be the first in-place study of an active sand dune anywhere other than Earth.

This artist's rendering portrays ice-rich layers in the soils of Mars being detected by instruments aboard NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

. NASA's Mars Helicopters Present, Future, and Proposed. This illustration depicts three different of models of NASA's solar-powered Mars helicopter. In the upper right is the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, currently operating at Jezero Crater. Depicted in the foreground is one of two Sample Recovery Helicopters slated to fly to Mars as part of the Mars Sample Return Campaign. NASA is developing the Sample Recovery Helicopters to serve as backups to the agency's Perseverance rover in transporting sample tubes to the Sample Return Lander. In the upper center of image is the Mars Science Helicopter concept. A proposed follow-on to Ingenuity, the six-rotor Mars Science Helicopter could be used during future Mars missions to serve as an aerial scout and carry between 4.5 and 11 pounds (2 to 5 kilograms) of payload, including science instruments, to study terrain that rovers can't reach.

The navigation camera on NASA's Spirit caught this stereo view of a dust devil during the on May 21, 2009. The view is to the west from Spirit's position at the 'Troy' location where Spirit had become embedded a few weeks earlier. 3D glasses are needed.

Vehicle and robot on planet surface

This illustration shows a concept for a proposed NASA Mars lander-and-rocket combination that would play a key role in returning to Earth samples of Mars material collected by the Perseverance rover. This Sample Retrieval Lander would carry a small rocket (about 10 feet, or 3 meters, tall) called the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the Martian surface. After using a robotic arm to load the rover's sealed sample tubes into a container in the nose cone of the rocket, the lander would launch the Mars Ascent Vehicle into orbit around the Red Planet. The lander and rocket are part of the multimission Mars Sample Return program being planned by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). The program would use multiple robotic vehicles to pick up and ferry sealed tubes containing Mars samples already collected by NASA's Perseverance rover, for transport to laboratories on Earth.

This image was acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) in the late afternoon of the 30th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 30 (June 25, 2008). This is hours after the beginning of Martian northern summer.

This artist's concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA's Mars 2020 rover will carry a number of technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans.

lunar landing mission on the Moon lunar landing mission on the Moon. Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 15063468

The Martian sun sets over the high walls of Mojave Crater

Astronauts performing work on a space station while orbiting above Mars.

This panorama shows two rock-strewn slopes on the left and right sides of a broad, U-shaped dip in the middle. The sandy surface in front of the rover is reddish brown; individual rocks and more distant features are blue-gray

Opportunity's Empty Nest

lunar landing mission on the Moon lunar landing mission on the Moon. Elements of this image furnished by NASA Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14993697

This grouping of two test rovers and a flight spare provides a graphic comparison of three generations of Mars rovers developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The setting is JPL's Mars Yard testing area.

Opportunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet Oppotunity Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 16000596

Mars exploration, artwork

Perseverance Views Bettys Rock. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this image of Bettys Rock using one of its front hazard cameras on June 20, 2022, the 474th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rock is named after Bettys Rock in Shenandoah National Park. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red P

This artist's concept of a lake at the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan illustrates raised rims and rampartlike features such as those seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft around the moon's Winnipeg Lacus. New research using Cassini radar data and modeling proposes that lake basins like these are likely explosion craters, which could have formed when liquid molecular nitrogen deposits within the crust warmed and quickly turned to vapor, blowing holes in the moon's crust. This would have happened during a warming event (or events) that occurred in a colder, nitrogen-dominated period in Titan's past. The new research may provide evidence of these cold periods in Titan's past, followed by a relative warming to conditions like those of today. Although Titan is frigid compared to Earth, methane in the atmosphere provides a greenhouse effect that warms the moon's surface.

Space exploration, illustration

An astrogeologist in a spacesuit and manned maneuvering unit (MMU) makes the first human contact with Mars' asteroid-like moon Phobos

This illustration shows a concept for a proposed NASA Sample Retrieval Lander that would carry a small rocket (about 10 feet, or 3 meters, tall) called the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the Martian surface. After being loaded with sealed tubes containing samples of Martian rocks and soil collected by NASA's Perseverance rover, the rocket would launch into Mars orbit. The samples would then be ferried to Earth for detailed analysis. The lander is part of the multi-mission Mars Sample Return program being planned by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency).

Super Resolution View of Barnacle

This artist's concept shows the sky crane maneuver during the descent of NASA's Curiosity rover to the Martian surface. The sheer size of the rover (over one ton, or 900 kilograms) would preclude it from taking advantage of an airbag-assisted landing.

Moon base, illustration.

Inspector Gadget

Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 13916507

This view from the Mastcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows dramatic buttes and layers on the lower flank of Mount Sharp. It was taken on Sept. 7, 2013, from near the waypoint called 'Darwin' on the route toward an entry point to the mountain.

The foreground of this scene from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows purple-hued rocks near the rover's late-2016 location on lower Mount Sharp. Variations in color of the rocks hint at the diversity of their composition.

This image shows the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on NASA's Curiosity rover, with the Martian landscape in the background. This image let researchers know that the APXS instrument had not become caked with dust during Curiosity's landing.

At right, NASA's Sojourner has traveled off the lander's rear ramp and onto the surface of Mars. The rock 'Barnacle Bill' and the rear ramp is to the left of Sojourner. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail.

Curiosity Mars rover, computer artwork.

Telepresence Virtual Reality (Mars Surface)

Astronaut on another planet. Space journey.

Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet Insight Mars exploring the surface of red planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 14546991

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory driving the agency's Perseverance rover use visualization software to plan how the rover moves around on Mars. This clip from their visualization shows the rover's first drive on March 4, 2021. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Animation available

This mosaic of images was taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during December of 2011. The accumulation of dust reduces the rover's power supply, and the rover's mobility is limited until the winter is over or wind cleans the panels.

A self-portrait of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity taken by the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) in late March 2014 shows effects of recent winds removing much of the dust from the rover's solar arrays.

These sets of animated GIFs show seven views of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover wiggling its wheels on March 4, 2021, the day Perseverance completed its first drive on Mars. The first three sets of GIFs come from the Navigation Cameras (Navcams). The first view shows the front left wheel; the second the front right wheel; the third the rear right wheel. The next four sets come from the Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams). The fourth GIF shows the front left wheel again; the fifth the front right wheel again; the sixth the rear left wheel; and the seventh the rear right wheel again. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agen

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft passes above Mars' south pole in this artist's concept illustration. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

Colony on Mars Planet colony on Mars like red planet, sci-fi animated Copyright: xZoonar.com/StanislavxRishnyakx 12932590

Alien planet exploration. Computer artwork of an astronaut on the surface of an alien planet.

Raumfahrer spaziert auf dem roten Planeten Mars. Weltraum-Mission. Willkommen auf dem Mars-Schild. Astronaut reisen im Raum *** Spaceman walked at the Red Planets Mars Space Mission Welcome at the Mars Shield Astronaut Travel at Room 1102806084

This artist's conception of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory portrays use of the rover's ChemCam instrument to identify the chemical composition of a rock sample on the surface of Mars.

Valles Marineris, Mars. Artwork of Valles Marineris canyon system as the Sun sets. It is found on Mars, the fourth planet in our Solar System. The Val...

Mars exploration, conceptual computer artwork.

iss061e067973 (Dec. 8, 2019) --- The Space Dragon resupply ship approaches the International Space Station as both spacecraft orbited 257 miles above the Sahara.

Space mining colony, computer artwork.

This image is a 3-D view behind NASA's Curiosity rover. The anaglyph was made from a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance Cameras on the rear of the rover. It has been cropped.

Artist concept of the Roswell incident.

Frost at the Viking Lander 2 Site

Venera 14 lander rests silently on the landscape of Venus.

3D render of a futuristic rover on Mars with Earth in the background

Humans terraforming the planet Mars.

Artist John J. Olson's conception for the future of space exploration A base on Mars.

Exhibition artefacts. Moving to Mars at The Design Museum, London, United Kingdom. Architect: N/A, 2019.

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