China News Service, August 6, According to foreign media reports, recently, NASA has released several new images taken by the "Curiosity" rover to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the "Curiosity" landing on Mars. According to reports, the "Curiosity" probe was launched in 2011 and arrived on the red planet Mars on August 5, 2012. So far, "Curiosity" has traveled more than 14 miles, drilled 26 rock samples along the way, and collected 6 soil samples.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released an "exciting" selfie of the Mars rover Curiosity. This photo is actually composed of 57 individual photos, which are stitched together to record this important moment for the detector. Image source: Visual China

  This time, NASA shared a total of 8 Mars "postcards" to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the "Curiosity" landing on Mars. One of the newly released pictures shows the panorama of Mount Sharp taken by the "Curiosity" in the early morning of October 13, 2019. The panorama is stitched together from 44 photos.

The panorama of Mount Sharp taken by Curiosity is made up of 44 images. Image source: NASA's official website

  There is also a panoramic picture taken on March 24, 2014, near the base of Mount Sharp. This picture shows how far Curiosity has traveled in more than six years. The white arrow indicates the current approximate location of Curiosity.

This photo shows the approximate location of the "Curiosity". Image source: NASA's official website

  Another photo shows what NASA described as "Italian-style western landscape." Curiosity took this panoramic photo in December 2019, which consists of 130 pictures. It shows a place called Western Butte in the foreground.

The foreground shot by Curiosity is called Western Butte. This panorama consists of 130 photos. Image source: NASA's official website

  According to reports, the main mission of the "Curiosity" is to find out whether the Martian historical environment was once suitable for life. The "Curiosity" was originally scheduled for a two-year mission, but it has been extended several times. It is still on Mars exploration missions.

  At the end of July 2020, NASA's "Perseverance" rover was also successfully launched, and it is expected to arrive on Mars in February 2021.