Mars Opportunity Rover is seen here examining the “Athens” rock on the red planet. This picture was taken on March 25, 2015 by Opportunity’s wide angle Hazcam and shows the robotic arm extended as it explores the lighter coloured Athens rock formation.

An ancient river on the golden crater of Mars?  That is what this looks like as NASA scientists examine the crater floor with what appear to be inverted channels, rounded lobe-like landforms, and light-toned layered deposits. These fluvial channels were captured in this enhanced colour image by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its HiRISE camera.

On its 908th day on Mars, the Curiosity rover used this drill to bore into a rock called “Telegraph Peak“.  A glitch in the system triggered by an irregularity in electrical current lead to several troubleshooting tests and delays in transferring the drilled samples for analysis. This picture was taken by the Mast Camera mounted on Curiosity.

Mars exploration rover Opportunity gets ready for some more examination as it comes up to this flat-faced rock (center of the picture) on the red planet. Opportunity rover’s wide-angle, front hazard avoidance camera took this picture in early March 2015, on the 3,948th Martian day of the rover’s mission on Mars. This rock is located in an area dubbed “Marathon Valley” which the rover reached over the last month and plans to study for its unique mineral characteristics.

The HiRISE took this picture of the Ares Vallis region which sits on a Martian plateau. HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is operated by the University of Arizona and took this picture on January 1, 2015. The huge outflow channel, Ares Vallis is also close to where the Pathfinder/Sojourner Mars mission landed in 1997.

Mars Explorer Rover Opportunity had been scouring the martian surface for a few months when it took this 2004 picture, close to the Fram Crater. Though these look like large size pebbles and stones, this image only shows about a 3 centimeter cross section of the Mars surface and was taken by the microscopic imager camera on Opportunity’s robotic arm. The official name for the pebbles and stones is actually spherules – these mineral concentrations are called “blueberries” and are rich in hematite.

Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is placed on Curiosity’s arm and took this picture of a test drilling site in a target area called “Mojave”.  (Aptly named as it does look a bit like the Mojave desert in south-western United States.) We can see that the drill bored through and even cracked, parts of the orange-brown rock like top surface. The small, shallow hole revealed a grey coloured surface where a cement like substance was found underneath. Scientists from NASA would have used this result to evaluate the drill results and assess whether additional drilling and sample testing be conducted at this location.

We know that NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover is chocked full of cameras and instruments that have been sending back reams of data. Included are four wide angle black and white cameras that use visible light to help the rover avoid crashing into things and to keep it from getting lost on its Martian mission. These are appropriately labeled Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams). The above picture was taken by one of the Hazcams as Opportunity traversed through the western rim of Endeavour Crater in November of 2014. The picture shows us Opportunity’s robotic arm and portions of the pale Mars bedrock that were a subject of further study.

Curiosity Rover was traveling from Yellowknife Bay towards Mount Sharp last September and took this picture of the buttes and layers of the martian surface using its Mastcam. The picture has been adjusted to reflect colours of the rocks that are similar to what we would see on Earth. And even with some dusty conditions, this is an awe inspiring shot from Mars as Curiosity approaches Mount Sharp.

Curiosity rover captured this rock formation at an area called “Whale Rock” near the base of Mount Sharp. We see similar rocks formed by moving water here on Earth. NASA scientists believe that the cross-bedding seen in the above picture from Mars also points to a time in the planet’s past when water was present and waves may have loosened sediment and created this type of rock formation. This picture was taken by Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam).