Rover panorama: Begin exploring Mars

Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech, panorama montage by

How was this panorama made?

This is an interactive impression of the Curiosity rover and its Gale Crater landing site. It is built from a range of image sources, including sent back to Earth by the one-tonne robot. One of the key landmarks, Mount Sharp, was constructed using this .

The pictures have been stitched together and coloured. There are, however, some omissions that have had to be filled in by the photo artist to complete a full panorama. For example, the sky and have been added based on imagery by Nasa's previous rover Spirit.

Nasa's policy is to post all Curiosity's raw pictures on the internet. This allows anyone - amateur and professional image processors - to build their own galleries of Mars.

Curiosity, also known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), landed on 6 August GMT.

Curiosity landing site: Gale Crater on Mars' equator