Curiosity Marches Onward and Upward

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This image from NASA's Mars Curiosity rover shows the "Amargosa Valley," on the slopes leading up to Mount Sharp on Mars. The rover is headed toward the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop, seen above the scale bar. This area represents a boundary between the plains of Gale Crater, named Aeolis Palus, and the layered slopes of Mount Sharp, or Aeolis Mons. Curiosity has recently crossed into this terrain and now is on the Mount Sharp side of the transition zone.

This image was taken by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). It has been white-balanced to show how the scene would appear under Earth's lighting conditions.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.