Curiosity Rover’s Traverse, August through November 2012

Since landing at a site  named “Bradbury Landing,” The rover has traveled 1,703 feet (519 meters) to an overlook position beside “Point Lake”. The rover landed on Aug. 5 Pacific Time (Aug. 6, Universal Time).  It worked on scoops of soil for a few weeks at the drift of windblown sand called “Rocknest.” The place called “Glenelg” is where three types of terrain meet. The depression called “Yellowknife Bay” is a potential location for selecting the first target rock for Curiosity’s hammering drill.

All of these sites are within Gale Crater and north of the mountain called Mount Sharp in the middle of the crater. After using its drill in the Glenelg area, the rover’s main science destination will be on the lower reaches of Mount Sharp.

The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) in NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona