A fantastic view from the Mars Curiosity Rover using its ChemCam remote micro imager (RMI), looking towards the distant Yardang Unit. Taken this week on Sol 4562 (June 6, 2025).
The mosaic was assembled from of 7 overlapping RMI images by Kevin Gill. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/Kevin M. Gill
A yardang is an elongated ridge created by wind erosion. The Yardang Unit is a layer found at the uppermost reaches of the foothills at the base of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain that Curiosity has been ascending since 2014. The colour, texture, and tilt of the layers in the Yardang Unit make it distinct from lower layers on the mountain. Mount Sharp is an exciting place for scientists to study because it's made up of a number of layers, each representing a distinct era in the climate of ancient Mars.
Curiosity Mars rover captured a colour view of the Yardang Unit using its Mast Camera back on November 2, 2024, (Sol 4352). The mosaic is made up of 18 images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth. The colour of that mosaic has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. LINK
