Driving into Vix
August 2026 Mastcam-Z “Image of the Month” submitted by Louise DuFlot and the Mastcam-Z Payload Downlink Leads
August 1, 2026
Beyond capturing stunning, never-seen-before views of the Martian landscape, Mastcam-Z is crucial to the Mars2020 mission to scout terrain and decide on future destinations. Such is the case with this view of a region called Vix, a key location to characterize the local bedrock and guide upcoming traverse decisions. The mosaic is made up of 57 individual images, and displayed in enhanced color to improve visual contrast. [NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS]
Images acquired on sol 1827 (April 10, 2026), in Mastcam-Z sequence zcam09883
The featured image shown here and JPEG from the button below are only 1/5th scale compressed versions of the original, high-resolution panorama, because of size limitations on what can be posted on our site. Please download and view the glorious FULL RESOLUTION PNG version (16930 x 7610 pixels; 143 MBytes) from here: IOM_Aug2026_zcam09883_sol1827.png
Photo credit: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS]
August 1, 2026