NASA rover takes striking photos of Mars

Curiosity Rover has provided NASA with stunning images of Mars' rock and sandy surface.

Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of the Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said that studying the rock formation up close gives scientists a better understanding of how Mars' landscape was formed.

For desert dwellers, the pictures are somewhat identical.

The photos look similar to the US bare valleys. NASA has compared the views to those seen at US National Parks. Curiosity's science team has been just thrilled to go on this road trip through a bit of the American desert southwest on Mars, according to the project scientist.

The rover has been investigating Murray Buttes, an area with steep rock formations at the base of the 3.4-mile high Mt. Sharp, over the last month. It has been observed that soft and eroded layers of sandstone have been preserved beneath a layer of hard rock. It is possible that these rock formations hold some clues about the geological and climate history of the red planet.

Vasavada has also stated that studying the formations up close allowed researchers to better understand how sand dunes were buried before becoming chemically changed by groundwater, exhumed and eroded to form the landscape that people see today.

Curiosity, which is also known as Mars Science Laboratory, is set to climb the mountain despite being damage by Mt. Sharp's rugged terrain.

Since arriving on Mars, the rover has found evidence that water existed on the planet once. It is also investigating if microbial life also lived in the past. Curiosity has celebrated its dramatic landing on Mars. On Aug. 5, 2012, NASA's tech toy has plopped down onto the floor of Gale Crater which produced a 96-mile wide dent on the planet's surface. Over the last four years, the rover has been examining younger layers of Mar's surface.