NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam), showing the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument investigating a target. APXS is a spectrometer that measures the abundance of chemical elements in rocks and soils, is about the size of a cupcake, and is located on the turret at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. Curiosity captured this image on Feb. 26, 2026 — Sol 4820, or Martian day 4,820 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 13:03:08 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Ashley Stroupe, Operations Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 27, 2026

This week we had three planning sessions, exploring the eastern side of the boxwork unit. As a Rover Planner on Monday, I worked on the arm and drive activities, while on Friday I served as the Engineering Uplink Lead (planning all of our engineering activities like heating and managing our onboard data). We had two small drives this week to put different targets into our workspace for each plan. The months-long careful and systematic investigation of the boxwork unit will hopefully provide the science team insights on what was going on in this area of Mars that resulted in this interesting and unique terrain. As we wrap it up, we are already thinking ahead to our future investigations of the sulfate unit, where we will be heading after finishing here and continuing our climb up Mount Sharp.

With three plans and short drives, we were able to do a total of 19 Mastcam stereo mosaics, getting a full 360-degree panorama as well as additional documentation of the nearby ridges/hollows and the nearby sulfate unit. Some of the rocks in the hollows show a return of the polygonal structures that we saw in abundance prior to entering the boxwork unit, but have only seen sparsely in other hollows. As we are entering deeper into the warmer months, the start of dust-storm season, we have also been doing a lot of atmospheric measurements. We did multiple observations of the crater rim (to watch it fading into the haze), Mastcam solar Tau measurements (looking at the Sun to measure dust in the atmosphere), dust-devil movies, and other sky observations.

We investigated a total of four targets with MAHLI and APXS, two of which we were able to brush. The accompanying image shows the APXS down on one of the targets near the contact. Most of the targets were not very complicated for the Rover Planners because the rocks have been mostly smooth and flat. But our Wednesday target, “Los Monos,” was slightly under the front of the rover, and we had to do some additional intermediate arm motions to reach underneath safely. We won’t actually know if today’s targets are on the other side of the contact (in the sulfate unit) or not until we can study the data.

Planning the short drives has been interesting, as with most of the boxwork unit drives, because we must navigate around the sand and steeper slopes in hopes of minimizing slip. In this weekend’s plan our drive will head south towards the southern end of the boxwork unit, where the terrain smooths out a bit and driving should be easier.

Drive to site 120.2192 during Sol 4823 (March 1, 2026). Post-drive 360 R-NavCam panorama, roughly assembled in MS-ICE. I'll add the details (map & drive data) ASAP. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Sol 4820 (February 26, 2026)

Curiosity drives to site 120.2102. Awaiting map and JSON files to document the new location.

Post-drive 360 R-NavCam, roughly assembled in MS-ICE

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Awaiting the drive details and map. Watch this space :)

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this Navcam image looking out towards the northern rim of Gale Crater. Compared to just a few months ago, the view is much hazier, reflecting the higher amount of atmospheric dust that is typical of this time of year. Curiosity captured the image using its Left Navigation Camera on Feb.19 — Sol 4813, or Martian day 4,813 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 12:15:50 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Diana Hayes, Graduate student at York University, Toronto

Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 20, 2026

This has been a pretty routine week for Curiosity. As was mentioned last week, we're now in the final phase of the boxwork exploration campaign. We're currently making our way toward the eastern contact of the boxwork formation with the surrounding geology, which we plan to drive along before turning our attention to the southern contact. That will likely be our last opportunity to directly interrogate the boxwork area before we continue our adventure up the slopes of Mount Sharp.

Along the way, we've been performing our usual investigations of the geology that we encounter at our parking locations. As always, this includes contact science on bedrock targets close to the rover, ChemCam LIBS observations of targets slightly further afield, and a number of ChemCam RMI and Mastcam mosaics. These mosaics include observations deeper into the “Tapiche” hollow where we're parked and the “Los Flamencos” ridge to its south, which we plan on investigating closer in the coming week.

Mars continues to move deeper into its dusty season, so the environmental science group filled this week's plan with a typical assortment of atmospheric monitoring activities to track dust devils and the amount of dust in the atmosphere, as well as several Navcam cloud movies. So far this dusty season the atmosphere over Gale Crater appears to be behaving much like it does most years, with no signs of imminent dust storms. It's now been almost eight years (four Mars years) since the last time that a global dust storm swept across the planet, so we're keeping a close eye on the possibility of another one occurring this year.

Checking out a the ridge of a nearby hollow in the boxwork terrain

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

A mosaic of 22 left MastCam images from sol 4810 (February 16, 2026)

The images were deBayered prior to assembly in MS-ICE. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Fredk

This drive data is extracted from JPLs post-drive Waypoint & Image JSONs. If anyone wants the URLs for these let me know in the comments :)

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used LED lights on the end of its robotic arm to create this rare nighttime view of the Red Planet’s surface on December 6, 2025, the 4,740th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission.

The LED lights are part of the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, a camera on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm. The image was captured by the Mast Camera, or MastCam, on the rover’s mast, or “head.” On occasion, scientists have used MAHLI’s LED lights to illuminate areas deep in shadow during the day, such as the insides of drill holes and the inlet tubes leading to instruments in the rover’s belly. Much earlier in the mission, the Curiosity team used these LEDs at night to look for layering or other features in drill hole walls that would help them understand a rock’s composition. Since the mission changed its drilling method, the drill holes have come out too rough and dusty to see any such details.

After drilling a rock target nicknamed “Nevado Sajama” on November 13, 2025 (Sol 4,718), the team noticed the drill hole walls were smooth enough to try looking for layers and decided to try illuminating the drill hole at night. This drill hole was made during Curiosity’s exploration of a region full of geologic formations called boxwork, which crisscross the surface for miles and look like giant spiderwebs when viewed from space.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Curiosity's new workspace after a short drive. This mosaic is assembled from 15 left side mast camera were de-Bayered and then assembled in MS-ICE. Credits for the de-Bayered images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk

This image was taken by Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front HazCam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4784 (2026-01-20 19:19:48 UTC). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars is currently on the other side of the sun and communications with the rovers and orbiters are not possible for a couple more weeks.

So I'm taking this opportunity to share a few of my favourite images acquired during the mission.

This rather scenic path to the 5 kilometer high Martian mountain called Aeolis Mons (aka Mt Sharp) passes the Murray Buttes that are seen here on the right side of this cropped mosaic using just 8 overlapping mast camera images that I assembled using MS ICE.

While at this location the rover drilled into the mudstone bedrock on the surface of the Murray formation and obtained a sample of powdered rock for analysis from a target called 'Marimba'. The raw images were acquired on mission Sol 1419 (August 03, 2016). Just 2 sols before Curiosity Rover celebrated its 4th anniversary on the planet Mars, landing on August 05, 2012 (PDT) I have stretched the colours and contrast to highlight the terrain on the Buttes and the flanks of the mountain.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Olivier-de-GOURSAC

Wheel Condition Check

Curiosity Rover used its Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) around 4 pm (local time) during mission Sol 1355, May 29, 2016 to acquire a set of images of its wheels. These were periodic checks to allow the rover's engineers to assess the accumulated wear and tear to its 6 aluminum wheels.

The MAHLI camera is located on the end of the rover's 2-meter long robotic arm. Images of the wheels are acquired by extending the arm away from the rover and then lowering it close to the ground.

I have corrected the rotation of the image and enhanced the colours a little.

For scale the rovers wheel diameter is 50 centimeters or about 20 inches, width is 40 centimeters, or 16 inches The distant base of the Gale crater rim mountains, seen at the top of this image were ~30 kilometers (~19 miles) from the rover's location in May 2016.

Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day on Nov. 18, 2025, spanning periods that occurred on both the 4,722nd and 4,723rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission. The panoramas were captured at 4:15 p.m. on Sol 4,722 and 8:20 a.m. on Sol 4,723 (both at local Mars time), then merged together. Color was later added for an artistic interpretation of the scene with blue representing the morning panorama and yellow representing the afternoon one.

The resulting “postcard” is similar to ones the rover took in June 2023 and November 2021. Adding color to these kinds of merged images helps different details stand out in the landscape.

The scene captured in this postcard shows Curiosity at the top of a ridge referred to as a boxwork formation. These formations crisscross a region in the lower foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain which Curiosity has been climbing since 2014.

Curiosity used the drill on the end of its robotic arm to collect a rock sample from the top of this ridge at a spot nicknamed “Nevado Sajama.” This view looks north across the boxwork formations and downslope of Mount Sharp toward the floor of Gale Crater, a vast impact crater the mountain is located within. The crater’s rim can be seen far in the distant horizon, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) away. Wheel tracks are visible in the hollow behind Curiosity, where a sample was also drilled at a spot nicknamed “Valle de la Luna.”

The boxwork formations are believed to have been created billions of years ago when water on ancient Mars dripped through rock cracks, carrying minerals with them. The minerals hardened after the water dried up; eons later, wind sandblasted the softer rock around these hardened minerals, exposing the ridges Curiosity is exploring today. These ridges may reveal more about the planet’s watery past.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

MastCam processed by Kevin M Gill, with a little extra post-processing :)

"NASA is continuing efforts to recontact its MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, which was last heard from on December 6. In partnership with NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), the MAVEN team has sent commands for spacecraft recovery and is monitoring the network for a spacecraft signal.

The MAVEN team also continues to analyze tracking data fragments recovered from a December 6th radio science campaign. This information is being used to create a timeline of possible events and identify likely root cause of the issue. As part of that effort, on December 16th and 20th, NASA’s Curiosity team used the rover’s MastCam instrument in an attempt to image MAVEN’s reference orbit, but MAVEN was not detected. Additional analysis will continue, but planned monitoring will be affected by the upcoming solar conjunction.

Mars solar conjunction – a period when Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun – begins Monday, December 29th, and NASA will not have contact with any Mars missions until Friday, January 16th, 2026. Once the solar conjunction window is over, NASA plans to resume its efforts to reestablish communications with MAVEN."

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, with the boxwork terrain in the foreground and Gale crater rim in the far background, using its Right Navigation Camera. Curiosity captured the image on Dec. 21, 2025 — Sol 4755, or Martian day 4,755 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 15:57:21 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Scientist and APXS team member, University of New Brunswick, Canada

Earth planning date: Monday, Dec. 22, 2025

As we all prepare for the holiday season here on Earth, we have been planning a few last activities before Curiosity and the team of scientists and engineers take a well-deserved, extended break. This holiday season coincides with conjunction — every two years, because of their different orbits, Earth and Mars are obstructed from one another by the Sun; this one will last from Dec. 27 to Jan. 20. We do not like to send commands through the Sun in case they get scrambled, so we have been finishing up a few last scientific observations before preparing Curiosity for its quiet conjunction break.

As part of a pre-planned transect between our two recent drill holes, “Valle de la Luna” (hollow) and “Nevado Sajama” (ridge), we successfully completed chemical analyses and imaging of a ridge wall. These observations were acquired to document changes in texture, structure, and composition between the two drill holes and to elucidate why we see such contrasting physical features of resistant ridges and eroded hollows in this region. Mastcam and ChemCam also imaged a little further afield. ChemCam continued observations of the “Mishe Mokwa” butte and captured textures in the north facing wall of the next, adjacent hollow. Mastcam imaged the central fracture along the “Altiplano” ridge above the wall we were parked at, as well as polygonal features in our previous workspace.

The rover engineers then successfully orchestrated Curiosity’s drive back up onto the nearby ridge to ensure a safe parking spot over conjunction. We documented the drive with a MARDI sidewalk video, tracking how the terrain beneath the rover changes as we drive. Although we could not use APXS and MAHLI on the robotic arm from Friday on, owing to constraints that need to be in place prior to conjunction, we were able to use the rover’s Mastcam to image areas of interest in the near field, which will help us with our planned activities when we return from conjunction. These will hopefully include getting chemistry (with APXS and ChemCam) and imaging (with MAHLI) of some freshly broken rock surfaces that we drove over.

The environmental scientists were also very busy. Navcam observations included: Navcam suprahorizon and zenith movies to monitor clouds; Navcam line-of-sight observations; and Navcam dust-devil movies and surveys as we enter the dust storm season on Mars. Mastcam tau observations were acquired to monitor the optical depth of the atmosphere, and APXS analyses of the atmosphere were also planned to monitor seasonal variations in argon.

Today we are uplinking the last plan before Mars disappears behind the Sun and we all take a break (the actual conjunction plan to take us through sols 4763-4787 was uplinked a couple of weeks ago). Because of constraints put in place to make sure Curiosity stays safe and healthy, we were limited to very few activities in today’s plan. These include more APXS atmospheric argon measurements and Hazcam and Navcam imaging including monitoring for dust-devil activity.

As usual, our plans also included background DAN, RAD, and REMS observations, which continue through conjunction.

It has been a pleasure to be a part of this amazing team for another year. We are all looking forward to coming back in January, when Mars reappears from behind the Sun, to another exciting year of roving in Gale crater.