Curiosity's Climb Attempt Leaves Tracks

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover left these tracks after trying multiple times to crest a slippery slope. This mosaic, made up of seven images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth, was captured by the rover's Mastcam on June 13, 2023, the 3,858th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth.

Curiosity struggled to climb a 23-degree slope that had slippery sand and wheel-size boulders. These three factors – the incline, the sand, and the large boulders – combined to make this Curiosity's toughest climb yet.

Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.

For more about Curiosity, visit: http://mars.nasa.gov/msl or https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html.