Mars rover spotted cruising around the Red Planet
The recently released imagery was taken on Feb. 28 by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
In the enhanced image, Curiosity appears as a dark speck on the dusty terrain, with a path of tracks behind it.
The orbiter has been circling Mars since 2006 and Curiosity has been exploring the planet since 2012, but their paths have rarely aligned for a clear shot of the rover in action until now.
"By comparing the time HiRISE took the image to the rover's commands for the day, we can see it was nearly done with a 69-foot drive," Doug Ellison, a member of Curiosity's operating team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement.
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At the time the image was taken, the orbiter was flying roughly 200 miles above the Martian surface and is expected to continue to be in operation through the 2020s.
Curiosity, which travels at a top speed of less than 1 mph, is on a mission to investigate whether the solar system's fourth planet was ever habitable for life.
Meanwhile, the orbiter is designed to study the planet's atmosphere and serve as a critical relay point for data transmitted between Earth and ground-based instruments.
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Curiosity is currently one of only two operational rovers on Mars. The other, Perseverance, landed in 2021 and is collecting rock samples that could one day be returned to Earth.
The European Space Agency has plans to join the exploration effort of the Martian surface, but its rover, which was scheduled for launch in 2028, may face delays.Original article source: Mars rover spotted cruising around the Red Planet
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