NASA's Curiosity rover marks 5,000 sols on Mars with new panorama

NASA's Curiosity rover has passed 5,000 Martian days on the Red Planet and sent back a new panorama taken from a sandy ridge nicknamed Chocolatal. Navigation cameras captured the scene on Aug. 30 and Sep. 2, 2026, which were combined into one image with blue for morning and yellow for evening.

• Curiosity has spent 5,000 sols on Mars since landing in 2012
• The panorama was shot on Aug. 30 and Sep. 2, 2026
• Morning is tinted blue and evening yellow as an artistic interpretation
• The rover is exploring the lower slopes of 5-km Mount Sharp in Gale Crater