This Haunting Image Is the First Orbital View of Curiosity Moving Across Mars

For apparently the first time ever, the Curiosity rover on Mars has been spotted mid-drive from orbit, a speck of human presence on the otherwise barren and grayscale landscape. The image, taken on February 28, 2025 (Sol 4,466—a leap day here on Earth!), shows Curiosity as a tiny dark blot at the end of a rover track trail that stretches about 1,050 feet (320 meters) across the Martian surface. It’s the orbital equivalent of a candid camera, courtesy of the HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. While HiRISE has snapped Curiosity before, this marks the first time we’ve seen it mid-stride—erm, roll—caught in the process of completing a 69-foot (21-meter) drive—a fact confirmed by matching timestamps with the rover’s command logs. Curiosity’s top speed? A blistering 0.1 mph (0.16 kilometers per hour). No, it won’t win any races—at least compared to vehicles on Earth—but the rover is steady, hardy, and unbothered by the abse ... Read full article.