In celebration of its birthday, the Curiosity Rover captured a 'doorway' on Mars and 9 more images

It was the 10th birthday of the Mars Curiosity Rover on Friday. This little SUV has been working hard on Mars for a decade. In the last few years, it has been plodding around the Red Planet, looking for proof that Mars once supported microscopic life.

 A non-doorway doorway

There is an opening in the exposed rock of Mars that seems rectangular and shadowy, appearing to be a portal into the Martian underground. The Mars Curiosity Rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam) captured this image and mistakenly identified it as a doorway.

 Martian lakebed

Curiosity Mars Rover's Mastcam captured this perfectly layered rock indicative of lake-floor sedimentary deposits near the entry point of flowing water.

 Paraitepuy Pass

On September 9, 2015, the Mars Curiosity Rover captured this scene. Several kilometers away, the rover was lost. The circle shows where Curiosity recently passed a boulder of similar size. Those are the Paraitepuy Passes that Curiosity is now navigating.

The Avanavero drill site

Using the Mastcam on Curiosity's Mastcam, NASA's Mars rover captured this 360-degree panorama at 'Avanavero.'. The panorama was stitched together back on Earth from 127 separate images taken on June 20, 2022. To match how a human eye would perceive Earth's lighting conditions, the color has been adjusted.

SAM Instrument selfie

Here's a selfie of the Mars Curiosity Rover before the SAM instrument was installed. A 6-meter tall outcrop, Mount Mercer, stands in front of the rover, while the sample size 'Nontron' is nearby. In this region, the rover is transitioning from exploring a 'clay-bearing unit' to exploring a 'sulfate-bearing unit'

 Panorama near Sierra Maigualida

On May 22, 2022, the Mars Curiosity Rover captured this 360-degree panorama near a location called Sierra Maigualida. This panorama is composed of 133 individual images taken by Mastcam.

A dusty atmospheric haze covers Gale Crater’s floor and upper Mount Sharp’s summit. The curving and overlapping layers around the rover are thought to be evidence of cross-bedding, which occurs when windborne sediments deposit layers.

 Flaky, streambed rocks

An ancient streambed or small pond is thought to have formed these layers of flaky rocks on June 2, 2022, using Mastcam. In this mosaic, six images are combined.

Martian flower

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on its robotic arm took images of this flower-like rock artifact on the left, which is smaller than a penny. It was taken on February 24, 2022. These spherical artifacts and the 'flower,' which NASA said was made when water clung to minerals, were ancient artifacts.

Postcard from Mars

Two black-and-white panoramas were taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at two different times of the day. To enhance the artistic interpretation, both panoramas were combined with blue, orange, and green colors. It was taken on November 16, 2021.

The Mars Curiosity Rover’s first pic

NASA's Curiosity Rover captured this color image of Mars' gravel-covered surface. As soon as Curiosity touched down on Mars, the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) captured the image. Despite the loneliness of Mars, Curiosity found life to be good. This pic was published by NASA in 2012.