NASA’s Curiosity rover has reached a major milestone by climbing 1 kilometer above the floor of Gale Crater on Mars, according to a statement released on October 7, 2026.
Since 2014, Curiosity has been exploring the lower foothills of Mount Sharp, a 5-kilometer-high mountain located within the crater. On August 26, 2026, the rover surpassed this symbolic altitude, marking the 4,996th Martian day of its mission.
On September 5, 2026, Curiosity captured a panorama composed of 95 images taken by its Mastcam camera, providing a backward-looking view of the crater floor and the distant visible rim. The panorama’s colors were adjusted to match human perception on Earth and show a sand ridge and a trench left by the rover’s right front wheel.
Analysis of the geological layers of this ridge, along with the size and composition of the sand grains, will help scientists understand the formation of this structure.
Curiosity was built and is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Mastcam camera is provided by Malin Space Science Systems.