NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured a unique image of the Curiosity rover mid-drive across the surface of Mars — the first-ever time a satellite has captured the car-sized vehicle’s movement.
The photograph, taken by the orbiter’s HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on February 28, shows Curiosity as a small dark speck at the front of a long, winding track carved into the rust-colored terrain of Gale Crater. The rover’s path stretches for about 1,050 feet (320 meters), evidence of roughly 11 drives since February 2. The trail is expected to remain visible for months before Martian winds eventually sweep it away.
“This is believed to be the first orbital image of the rover mid-drive across the Red Planet,” NASA officials say in a statement.
Curiosity, which landed on Mars in August 2012, is making its way from an area called Gediz Vallis channel to a new science target believed to contain “boxwork” formations — geological patterns that may have formed from ancient groundwater activity.
Doug Ellison, planning team chief at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), explains how they confirmed the timing of the image.
“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,” he says.
While the HiRISE camera has previously photographed Curiosity from orbit, those earlier images showed the rover stationary. This new snapshot captures motion — a rare dynamic moment from an otherwise slow and methodical journey across the Martian surface. Curiosity’s top speed is just 0.1 mph (0.16 kph), so each leg of its mission is carefully planned by scientists and engineers at JPL.
HiRISE typically photographs the Martian surface in black and white with a narrow strip of color down the center. In this instance, Curiosity landed within the monochrome portion of the frame.
MRO has been orbiting Mars since 2006, providing vital data on past water activity, relaying communications, and tracking the movement of rovers like Curiosity and its younger counterpart, Perseverance.
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