The Martian rover will spend months exploring the channel, gathering clues about Mars potentially warmer, water-filled past.
In the opposite direction is the steep slope that Curiosity climbed to reach this area.
Scientists believeMars may have had bodies of water flowing across its surface billions of years ago.
NASA’s Curiosity rover captured this 360-degree panorama of Gediz Vallis channel using one of its black-and-white navigation cameras on February 3.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Gediz Vallis channel is carved into the underlying bedrock, and is filled with boulders and other debris.
That means the Gediz Vallis channel formed long after Mount Sharp.
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Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
