NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took photos from the Vera Rubin Ridge showing the interior and rim of Gale Crater. The full image features 16 photos stitched together. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took photos from the Vera Rubin Ridge showing the interior and rim of Gale Crater. The full image features 16 photos stitched together. Here's a reminder that while you are out in the world buying groceries, picking up dry cleaning or catching up on The Crown, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is on the red planet doing work.

The stunning detail of the Martian landscape was taken on a ridge of elevation 327 metres (1,073 feet). The image looks over the Gale Crater which is about 3.5-3.8 billion years old and covers an area 96 miles (154 kilometres) in diameter - about the same size as Rhode Island and Connecticut combined Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, released the panorama, which gives an overview of much of the rover's 11 mile (18 km) path along the crater's outer edge. The photos were taken on October 25, 2017, by Curiosity's Mast Camera, or Mastcam. At an elevation of 327 metres (1,073 feet), the image looks over the crater, which is about 3.5-3.8 billion years old and covers an area 96 miles (154 kilometres) in diameter - about the same size as Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. Most of the scene's horizon is the crater's northern rim, roughly around 1.2 miles (two kilometres) above the rover.