Gallery: Rover's First Year: The Best Pictures and Videos From Curiosity's Time on Mars
01high-res-selfie
You're probably not checking in on NASA's Curiosity rover as often as you used to. No worries, it's still there being awesome and making discoveries whenever you need a fix. When the probe first landed on Mars a year ago today, every movement it made was monumental and every photo it snapped was historic. Pictures streaming in from the Red Planet would be passed around online, eliciting millions of geeky cheers. And over the course of this past year, the rover has continued its amazing work, making monumental discoveries and continuing to produce spectacular pictures. So let's go back and relive the incredible first year of Curiosity. You might remember the anticipation when it landed. There was no guarantee that the $2.5 billion mission would touch down safely. A large percentage of Mars missions [have historically failed](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/failure-to-reach-mars/) and this one was using new, untested technology to land. The rover had to pass through a complex sequence nicknamed the "7 Minutes of Terror" to get between space and the Martian soil. Tensions were running high. It was late at night or early in the morning, depending on where you live, when NASA [confirmed that the rover was wheels down](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/curiosity-lands/) on Mars. At approximately 10:30 p.m. PT/1:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 5/6, 2012, the control room at JPL erupted in cheers and tears. Members of the public had gathered at local landing parties while [a crowd swelled](http://www.space.com/16950-nasa-mars-rover-landing-times-square.html) in New York's Times Square to watch live on the big screen. [Millions more](http://mashable.com/2012/08/08/mars-curiosity-ustream/) tuned in to NASA's online feed. Since then, the rover has learned about Mars' watery past and boosted the evidence that [the planet was once habitable](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/curiosity-mars-life/). NASA and amateurs alike have processed the photos it sends back and turned them into nail-biting landing videos and amazing panoramas that transport you right to the Red Planet. Here, we've gathered some of the most iconic and important media from Curiosity's first year on Mars. Hopefully, looking at them can help rekindle the feelings from the earliest mission days as we look forward to many more years of breathtaking views and discoveries. __Above:__ High-Res Selfie --------------- Curiosity has a long arm. At the end of that arm is a camera and, by carefully positioning that camera, the rover was able to snap 55 individual shots of its body. Stitched together, these images produced one of the most impressive photos of Curiosity's mission: A full-body self portrait of the rover working hard on Mars. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16239.html)*
02first-images-2
First Images ------------ "It's a wheel!" the [folks at mission control cried](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/first-image-rover-landing/). The first pictures beamed back from Mars weren't the most amazing things to look at. But they were beautiful for what they represented: we had a whole new state-of-the-art machine on another planet that was ready to explore and discover like never before. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/firstfrontimage.jpg) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/firstmountsharp.jpg) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/curiositylands.png) Images: 1) Curiosity's first image from Mars, taken with one of its back cameras. *[NASA/JPL-Caltech](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4213)* 2) One of the first pictures from Curiosity's front cameras. *[NASA/JPL-Caltech](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4211)* 3) The first image of Curiosity's eventual target, Mount Sharp. *[NASA/JPL-Caltech](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4271)* 4) JPL mission control the moment confirmation came of the rover landing. *NASA TV screencap*
03ultra-hd-landing
Ultra-HD Landing ---------------- When Curiosity first emerged from its heat shield in the Martian atmosphere, it immediately began to snap pictures of its descent. In the months after landing, we saw [many different](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/curiosity-descent-video/) [videos depicting](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/hd-curiosity-landing/) this harrowing landing sequence. But the [best one](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/ultra-hd-curiosity-landing/) appeared about a month after Curiosity touched down, a labor of love from filmmaker Bard Canning. *Video: [Bard Canning](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esj5juUzhpU&feature=youtu.be)/Youtube*
04cute-selfie
Cute Selfie ----------- Part of Curiosity's appeal comes from its adorable appearance (Pixar's *Wall-E*, anyone?). The mission would no doubt have been wildly popular without selfies, but the fact that the rover takes the time to photograph itself certainly helps. This one, the first, has a certain rustic charm from the fact that the camera still had its reddening dust cover protection on. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4643)*
05first-high-res-image
First High-Res Image -------------------- Now that's more like it. No more of these blurry shots through the dust cover. After less than a week on Mars, Curiosity began sending back the high-resolution images we all love and it hasn't stopped wowing us since. This is one of the first pics to be snapped with Curiosity's awesome 2-megapixel cameras (don't scoff, your cell phone may have like eight gajillion megapixels, but it's not on Mars). *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4429)*
06laser-marks
Laser Marks ----------- One of the best things about Curiosity is that it shoots lasers. The rover vaporizes tiny bits of rocks and studies the resulting plasma to better understand their composition. Here is one poor specimen before and after a barrage of pew-pewing. Below is a nice animation showing what it looks like when a laser hole appears. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/PIA16234_ip.gif) *Images: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/ CNES/IRAP/LPGN/CNRS](http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4600)*
07layers-of-mount-sharp
Layers of Mount Sharp --------------------- Curiosity is looking up at the slopes of Mount Sharp, the 5-kilometer-high peak at the center of Gale Crater. The rover will eventually drive up this mountain, watching the layers of rock to reveal how Mars went from a warm, wet world to a cold and dry one. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16105.html)*
08drill-hole
Drill Hole ---------- This 1.6-centimeter-wide hole represents the first steps of Curiosity's drill campaign on Mars. Drilling operations have been done before on Venus and the moon, but Curiosity carries the first true boring tool to be used on Mars. The rover is able to pulverize rock and scoop up the resulting powder in order to analyze the inner layers of rocks. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16760)*
09panorama
4-Billion-Pixel Panorama ------------------------ Curiosity has taken more than 71,000 photos since landing on Mars. Given that the images are freely available, the collection is a gold mine for anyone with basic image processing skills. There are many beautiful examples of Curiosity photos stitched together, but some of the best are the panoramas that let you fully immerse yourself and feel like you're [standing there on Mars](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/02/curiosity-drill-panorama/) next to Curiosity. The panorama below comes from photographer [Andrew Bodrov](http://www.360cities.net/profile/bodrov) of Estonia, who produces some of the most amazing work. [#iframe: http://www.360cities.net/embed_iframe/mars-gigapixel-panorama-curiosity-solar-days-136-149](660x489)|||||| [Mars Gigapixel Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar days 136-149](http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-gigapixel-panorama-curiosity-solar-days-136-149 "Panorama photos of Mars Gigapixel Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar days 136-149 on 360cities.net") in [out-of-this-world](http://www.360cities.net/area/Out of this World "Panoramic images from out-of-this-world") *Images: [Andrew Bodrov](http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-gigapixel-panorama-curiosity-solar-days-136-149#-31.41,0.71,74.8)*
10night-shift
Night Shift ----------- Curiosity's hot nuclear battery helps it stay warm during the Martian night. Unlike the preceding solar-powered Mars rovers, Curiosity can actually keep working when the sun goes down. It's got some impressive ultraviolet lights to help it see reactive minerals inside of rocks and make discoveries it might otherwise not. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/nightdrill2.jpg) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/nightdrill.jpg) Images: 1) Rocks glowing under UV light from Curiosity's camera. *[NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16712)* 2) Curiosity's explorations take it right through sunset. *NASA/JPL-Caltech* 3) Curiosity shines its flashlight during the Martian night shift. *NASA/JPL-Caltech*
11martian-time-lapse
Martian Time-Lapse ------------------ The folks at JPL released a really cool video last week showing a year of Curiosity's operations on Mars. The pictures start at landing and take us all the way through roving, drilling, scooping, and sampling. *Image: [JPLnews](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Alq08Poqb0&feature=youtu.be)/Youtube*
