This image was taken by Rear Hazcam: Left B (RHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 535 (2014-02-06 20:41:42 UTC). 
<p><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=RLB_444990726EDR_F0260366RHAZ00313M_&amp;s=535">http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=RLB_444990726EDR_F0260366RHAZ00313M_&amp;s=535</a>
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Through the Gap: Curiosity Mars Rover Crosses Dune
</p><p><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-035">http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-035</a>
</p><p>This view combines several frames taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, looking into a valley to the west from the eastern side of a dune at the eastern end of the valley. 
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UPDATED: February 6, 2014
</p><p>NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover has crossed a dune that stands across a gateway to a southwestward route favored by the rover team for driving to future science destinations.
</p><p>After reaching the west side of the 3-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) dune today, the rover looked back at its tracks down the western slope. A raw image of the rover's tracks over the dune is at: 
</p><p><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://1.usa.gov/Mw9HmZ">http://1.usa.gov/Mw9HmZ</a> .
</p><p>The dune sits between low scarps at a site called "Dingo Gap" inside Mars' Gale Crater. Now that Curiosity has passed through the gap, engineers and scientists plan to direct the mobile laboratory toward a location of interest where different rock types intersect. That is a candidate site for next use of the rover's drill. Beyond that, the drive will continue toward the mission's long-term science destination on lower slopes of Mount Sharp, in the middle of the crater.
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February 03, 2014
</p><p>The team operating NASA's Curiosity Mars rover will likely drive the rover westward over a dune and across a valley with fewer sharp rock hazards than alternative routes.
</p><p>A final decision on whether to pass through this valley will ride on evaluation of a short drive planned this week toward the top of the dune that lies across "Dingo Gap." The dune is about 3 feet (1 meter) high at its center, tapered off at both sides of the gap between two low scarps. A color view assembled from images taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) on the east side of the dune shows details of the valley that the rover may traverse this month.
</p><p>NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
</p><p>For more information about Curiosity, visit <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl">http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl</a> , <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.nasa.gov/msl">http://www.nasa.gov/msl</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/">http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/</a>. You can follow the mission on Facebook at <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity">http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity</a> and on Twitter at: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://twitter.com/marscuriosity">https://twitter.com/marscuriosity</a>.
</p><p>Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov
NASA/JPL-Caltech
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