Mind-blowing pics from surface of Mars taken by Curiosity – as Nasa celebrates rover’s 8th anniversary on Red Planet

NASA’S Curiosity Mars rover celebrated its eighth anniversary on the Red Planet this week.

The $2.5billion (£1.9billion) machine has taken some stunning photos during its stay on the dusty world, including the first ever selfie on Mars.

Curiosity’s mission is to find out whether the planet ever was, or is, habitable to microbial life.

About the size of a MINI Cooper, the rover is loaded with 17 cameras and a robotic arm containing a suite of specialised scientific instruments.

During its eight years (and counting) on Mars, Curiosity has photographed hills and craters that once flowed with Martian rivers and lakes.

It has also captured the highest-resolution panorama yet of the Martian surface, giving space fans their most complete view yet of the planet.

Following from Wednesday’s anniversary, here are some of the best images the rover has beamed back to Earth.

Sunset on Mars

Here’s what you need to know about the Red Planet…

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
It is named after the Roman god of war
The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful

Eerie Nasa panorama from surface of Mars is most detailed ever