Curiosity's sol-5000 postcard mixes a morning and afternoon view
NASA Science says the rover merged navigation-camera panoramas taken at Chocolatal at 09:56 local Mars time on 30 August 2026 and 17:39 on 2 September, sols 5000 and 5003. The Verge, at 18:11 UTC on 16 September, says the collage marks 14 years since the 2012 landing and that NASA added blue for morning and yellow for afternoon. Chocolatal and the clock times sit in the NASA entry, not in The Verge lede.
Science··Evening
Blue morning, yellow afternoon
NASA Science describes an artistic colour overlay: blue for the morning mosaic, yellow for the afternoon. The Verge, by Stevie Bonifield, posted 16 September at 18:11 UTC, quotes NASA on merging two black-and-white navigation-camera panoramas then adding colour, with blue representing the morning panorama and yellow the afternoon one. That colour mapping is the shared claim. The Verge also says the shot marks 14 years since Curiosity landed in 2012. NASA’s photojournal caption used here does not print the words 14 years; that landing anniversary is The Verge’s line.[1], [2]
Chocolatal, sol 5000 and sol 5003
NASA Science says the panoramas were taken at the sand ridge nicknamed Chocolatal at 09:56 local Mars time on 30 August 2026 and at 17:39 on 2 September 2026, corresponding to sols 5000 and 5003. The postcard looks down toward the Gale Crater floor from the lower foothills of 5-kilometre Mount Sharp. The Verge item does not name Chocolatal or those Mars-clock stamps; those details stay on the NASA caption.[1], [2]
A picture, not a new measurement
NASA Science notes the rover deck shows the can-shaped UHF antenna and the finned MMRTG nuclear power source, with tracks trailing away. It calls the postcard an image product, not a new geological measurement. The Verge does not inventory the deck hardware. Together the two pages still describe the same 16 September NASA image release: a coloured mash of two navigation mosaics for the 5,000-sol mark.[1], [2]
