Curiosity: Crossing the sands of Mars + A panorama + Mapping the rover’s trek from orbit

The Mars Curiosity rover looks back over ira trek across a sand dune : NASA’s Curiosity Drives On After Crossing Martian Dune – NASA JPL –

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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is continuing its traverse toward enticing science destinations after climbing over a dune spanning a gap in a ridge.

The rover covered 135 feet (41.1 meters) on Feb. 9, in its first drive since the 23-foot (7-meter) crossing of the dune on Feb. 6. That put Curiosity’s total odometry since its August 2012 landing at 3.09 miles (4.97 kilometers).

An animated sequence of images from the low-slung Hazard-Avoidance Camera on the rear of the vehicle documents the up-then-down crossing of the dune.

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Check out also the cool interactive panorama created from Curiosity’s images near the sand dune: Curiosity Rover’s Epic New Panorama of the Sands of Mars – Wired Science

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Emily Lakdawalla describes the HiRISE high-resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter  and then shows some interesting images made with it of the area where Curiosity has been exploring and the path that it has taken: HiRISE image coverage of the Curiosity field site on Mars – The Planetary Society.