Rock types in Gale Crater

This three-dimensional perspective view of the Gale Crater was created using visible-light imaging by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter.

A canyon was cut through the layers of different rock types after they formed, and is of particular interest to the Mars Science Laboratory mission. This canyon, similar to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, exposes layers of rock representing tens or hundreds of millions of years of environmental change.