Three new panoramas taken from the Mars Curiosity rover have been released.
The panoramas present a striking image of the red planet's landscape. Each photo is comprised of over 20 raw images taken by Curiosity into a single mosaic.
The mosaics "show the context for each spot where the rover is toiling away - compared to individual frames that just give a rather narrow view and incomplete experience," co-creator of the panoramas Ken Kremer told SPACE.com in an email. "The wide view lets you experience Mars as if you were standing on the Red Planet's surface - and from the human perspective."
Of the three images, one shows Curiosity with its arm stretched outward, studying a rocky outcrop. The other is a self-portrait of the rover taken on Feb. 3. In the third, Curiosity has its arms lifted up and its drill pointed toward the viewer.
The Curiosity rover is on a mission to measure the possibility of past or present microbial life on Mars. According to Kremer, the panoramas help show a portrait of Curiosity and its enterprise.
"I chose these scenes because they vividly tell the story of what NASA seeks to accomplish with Curiosity in the search for signs of life on Mars as well as tell the science story of the entire mission at a glance - one panorama is worth a thousand words, so to speak," he said.
The Curiosity rover has already completed its chief mission, establishing that Mars was once habitable billions of years ago. The Curiosity team announced the feat in March, seven months after the rover landed on the planet.
