NASA Releases Panorama Picture of the Mars Surface Captured by Mars Curiosity Rover

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released the striking 360-degree panorama picture of the Mars surface captured by Mars Curiosity rover.

According to NASA, these images are “reminiscent of the US Southwest shape part of the horizon” and were captured on the fourth anniversary of Rover’s landing on Mars. Precisely speaking, the pictures were taken on mission’s 1,421st Martian day.

“The rover used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to capture dozens of component images of this scene on Aug. 5, 2016, four years after Curiosity’s landing inside Gale Crater,” the statement on NASA’s page reads.

The panorama visual effect was created using 130 individual images. It shows the Murray Buttes, a peak on Mount Sharp in the Gale Crater. The peak was named so after a planetary scientist Bruce Murray, who served as the chief of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that supervises Curiosity rover’s mission on Mars. A butte can be defined as an isolated hill with steep sides and a small, relatively flat top.

Curiosity rover landed on the Gale Crater on August 6, 2012 with a goal to examine an “ancient habitable environment” on Mars. While the rover has already completed its primary goal, it is now on its extended mission since December 2012 and has been monitoring current developments on the Red Planet.

In June 2016, NASA said the high levels of manganese oxides on Mars may indicate that the planet was rich in oxygen once.  On Earth, creation of manganese oxides involves atmospheric oxygen or microbes.

Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA is the space agency of United States of America and is responsible for the civilian space program and aeronautics/aerospace research. Since being established in 1958, NASA has led US in its space exploration efforts, including the Skylab space station, the Apollo moon-landing mission, and Space Shuttle. NASA also shares its data with various national and international organizations.

In the past 50 years, NASA has carried out a variety of manned and unmanned spaceflight programs. Unmanned programs included launching the first American artificial satellites into Earth orbit, sending scientific probes to different planets such as Mars and Venus, and others. Manned programs included sending the first Americans into low Earth orbit (LEO), accomplishing successful human landing on Moon in 1969 through Apollo program, and developing semi-reusable LEO Space Shuttle and space station.

Currently, NASA is working in association with Russia and European Space Agency to manage the International Space Station. The agency is also overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, Commercial Crew vehicles, and the Space Launch System.