The Mars rover Curiosity undergoes a final round of checks before making its first lengthy drive across the surface of the Red Planet.
Curiosity Ready to Roll
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This view of three of Curiosity's wheels combines two images taken on September 9, 2012.
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A 3.5 centimeter circular opening reveals a piece of basaltic rock from New Mexico that serves as a calibration target for the Mars rover Curiosity’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer, September 9, 2012.
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A photo taken by the the Curiosity rover's mast camera highlights the geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater on Mars, August 27, 2012.
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This image shows bedrocks that were exposed after Curiosity's rocket stage fired its engines that blew away soil from the Martian surface.