NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover at Naukluft Plateau (360 View)

Explore this Mars panorama in 360-degrees by moving the view with your mouse or mobile device. This mid-afternoon, 360-degree panorama was acquired by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on April 4, 2016. The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.

The view combines dozens of images taken during the mission's 1,302nd sol, or Martian day, by Mastcam's left-eye camera from a location on top of what rover team members call "Naukluft Plateau" on lower Mount Sharp, which stands inside Gale Crater. The science goals of this panorama called only for terrain images, which is why frames showing the sky and rover hardware were not imaged or included in the mosaic.

This science mosaic is part of long-term campaign to document the geology along the rover's traverse since landing in August 2012.

The foreground and middle distance show a geologic scene dominated by eroded remnants of a finely layered ancient sandstone deposit. The sandstone here appears to be dominated by thick layers of windblown sand, suggesting that these deposits formed in a drier epoch.

For more info about this panorama, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/1pGew0i

Download high-res images used to make this 360-degree video from:
http://go.nasa.gov/1pGeshe