After news earlier this week of the Curiosity rover petting and naming its new pet rock, Jake Matijevic, NASA released images today indicating that long ago, water probably flowed on the Martian surface.
Other notable images recently sent back from Mars include one from Curiosity’s older, but smaller rover sibling, Opportunity, that photographed small spherical objects, nicknamed “blueberries,” with it’s Microscopic Imager providing important evidence about long-ago wet environmental conditions.
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Clik here to view.![September 19, 2012: The drive by Mars rover Curiosity during the mission's 43rd Martian day, or sol, ended with this rock about 8 feet (2.5 meters) in front of the rover. The rock is about 10 inches (25 centimeters) tall and 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. The rover team has assessed it as a suitable target for the first use of Curiosity's contact instruments on a rock. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 19, 2012: This view of Mars Curiosity's deck shows a plaque bearing several signatures of U.S. officials, including that of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in this image taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the rover's 44th Martian day, or sol, on Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 14, 2012: Small spherical objects are shown in this mosaic combining four images from the Microscopic Imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The view covers an area about 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) across, at an outcrop called "Kirkwood" in the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./ USGS/Modesto Junior College/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 13, 2012: The Curiosity rover observes the moon Phobos grazing the sun's disk on Martian day, or sol, 37. The rover, dispatched to determine if the planet most like Earth in the solar system could have supported microbial life, has taken on a second job - moonlighting as an astronomer. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 9, 2012: The three left wheels of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity are shown here combined in two images that were taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). In the distance is the lower slope of Mount Sharp. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 9, 2012: This view of the lower front and underbelly areas of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines nine images taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). Curiosity's front Hazard-Avoidance cameras appear as a set of four blue eyes at the top center of the portrait. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 9, 2012: This view shows the calibration target for the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) aboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. The camera is in the turret of tools at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. Its calibration target is on the rover body near the base of the arm and includes color references, a metric bar graphic, a 1909 VDB Lincoln penny, and a stair-step pattern for depth calibration. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 9, 2012: The calibration target on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on Mars, which has adjustable focus. The camera took two images with the same pointing: one with the calibration target in focus and one with the wheel and Martian ground in focus. The view here combines in-focus portions from these shots. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 9, 2012: The penny in this image is part of a camera calibration target on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on Mars. The penny is a nod to geologists' tradition of placing a coin or other object of known scale as a size reference in close-up photographs of rocks, and it gives the public a familiar object for perceiving size easily when it will be viewed by MAHLI on Mars. The specific coin, provided by MAHLI's principal investigator, Ken Edgett, is a 1909 "VDB" penny. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 8, 2012: The reclosable dust cover on Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was opened for the first time during the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars, enabling MAHLI to take this image. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 7, 2012: Curiosity's Mast Camera, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on NASA's Curiosity rover, is shown with the Martian landscape in the background on the 32nd Martian day, or sol, of operations on the surface. This image lets researchers know that the APXS instrument had not become caked with dust during Curiosity's dusty landing. Scientists enhanced the color in this version to show the Martian scene as it would appear under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 7, 2012: The Curiosity rover uses a camera located on its arm to obtain this self portrait. The image of the top of Curiosity's Remote Sensing Mast, showing the Mastcam and Chemcam cameras, was acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 6, 2012: This color view of the parachute and back shell that helped deliver NASA's Curiosity rover to the surface of the Red Planet was taken by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The area where the back shell impacted the surface is darker because lighter-colored material on the surface was kicked up and displaced. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 6, 2012: Tracks from the first drives of NASA's Curiosity rover are visible in this image captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![September 5, 2012: The left eye of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), during the 30th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars. The image shows that MAHLI has a thin film or coating of Martian dust on it. The mechanism at the right in this image is Curiosity's dust removal tool, a motorized wire brush. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![August 29, 2012: Tracks made by the wheels of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity taken by the Curiosity's Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam) are shown after the rover's longest drive on Mars. The drive of about 52 feet (16 meters) during the 22nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission (August 28, 2012), covered more ground than the two previous drives combined. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![August 29, 2012: The Mast Camera (MastCam) on NASA's Curiosity rover highlights the interesting geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater, where the rover landed. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![August 28, 2012: The wheel tracks of the Mars Curiosity rover are seen in the dust on Mars. A close inspection of the tracks reveals a unique, repeating pattern: Morse code for JPL. This pattern, visible as straight bands across the zigzag track marks, can be used as a visual reference to help the rover drive accurately. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![August 28, 2012: Tracks made by the wheels of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity are shown by the Curiosity's Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam) after the rover's longest drive on Mars. The drive of about 52 feet (16 meters) during the 22nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission covered more ground than the two previous drives combined. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![August 28, 2012: A close-up of track marks is shown here from the first test drive of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. Instead of a warm, wet and possibly life-bearing planet as some scientists contend, early Mars may have been a hostile and volatile place with frequent volcanic outbursts, a study said on September 9. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/HO/AFP/Getty Images)]()
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Clik here to view.![August 23, 2012: Rock fins up to about 1 foot (30 centimeters) tall are visible in this panoramic camera image by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The view spans an area of terrain about 30 feet (9 meters) wide. Orbital investigation of the area has identified a possibility of clay minerals in this area of the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The view combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). It is presented in approximate true color, the camera team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ./Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![August 23, 2012: A series of test images are used to calibrate the 34-millimeter Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover looking south-southwest from the rover's landing site. The gravelly area around Curiosity's landing site is visible in the foreground. Some haze obscures the view, but the top ridge, depicted in this image, is 10 miles (16.2 kilometers) away. (NASA/Handout/Reuters)]()
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Clik here to view.![July 2, 2012: This 360-degree scene assembled from images taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity were released on September 7, 2012 and shows terrain surrounding the position where the rover spent its 3,000th Martian day, or sol, working on Mars. The scene is presented as a polar projection with north at the top. The Sol 3000 site is near the northern tip of the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Bright toned material lines the perimeter of Cape York. Opportunity arrived at this location on Sol 2989 (June 20, 2012) with a drive bringing the mission's total driving distance as of Sol 3000 to 21.432 miles (34,492 meters). (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout/Reuters)]()
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MORE: Curiosity rover makes tracks on Mars in successful test drive
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MORE: NASA lands Curiosity rover on Mars
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