Curiosity's Journey Ahead
Science takes time, and Curiosity's scheduled 2-year mission will certainly need it.
In this infographic, at the far left, Curiosity is seen at an area called "Rocknest Wind Drift". The rover worked at this location from Sol 56 (Oct. 2, 2012) to Sol 100 (Nov. 16, 2012), performing sample collection. This mosaic of 55 images from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) shows the five places from which the rover's scoop obtained sand that it delivered to the CheMin and SAM laboratory instruments. Above this image is a close-up of Rocknest to provide scale. It is shown referencing the Glenelg location on the larger "Journey" 3D model image.
The straight-line distance between the landing site and the Glenelg area is about 450 meters. Curiosity traveled 598 meters by sol 123 by the time it approached "Yellowknife Bay"; just north of Glenelg and East of Rocknest ... taking images, sampling rocks, digging scoops ... science takes time.
Zooming out, the lower center image shows the relationship of the landing area to Gale Crater and to the areas of prime scientific interest at the base of Mount Sharp. The target-landing ellipse (in grey) is about 20 kilometers long and 7 kilometers wide (2 miles by 4 miles).
On Aug. 23, 2012, when Curiosity was first exercising its instruments at the Bradbury Landing site, it used its 100-millimeter Mastcam to take the image at the lower right. This image looks south-southwest. Off in the distance, there are dark dunes and then the layered rock at the base of Mount Sharp (straight-line distance annotations 5.5km & 6.6km) -- the areas of prime scientific interest.
This infographic links these features back to the center image of Gale Crater. The orange square in the center image identifies the outlines of the "Journey" 3D model image above and yellow arrow is located at approximately the same position as it is in the lower center image. (The different orientations of the images and lack of detail on the model make the location approximate.)
The model estimates that it is 7.7 kilometers from Glenelg to the base of Mount Sharp. It will be a long journey there, with a lot of data collection to do on the way. The Mars sidereal year takes about 686.98 Earth solar days or 668.59 sols. It could take Curiosity over a Martian year to get to the base of Mount Sharp ... and then it's time for more science!