In its first months on the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory has been using its 17 cameras to record amazing scenery and its early operations.

Now that it's safely on the Red Planet's surface, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory — a.k.a. Curiosity — will spend at least a full Martian year (98 weeks) studying the windblown deposits on the floor of Gale crater and the 3-mile-high stack of layered sediment not far away that could hold important clues to the planet's early history.

By the end of 2012, five months into its mission, Curiosity had traveled nearly a half mile (several hundred meters), moving toward an intriguing exposure of bedrock called "Glenelg." These early sorties provided the mission's scientists and engineers with a variety of surface materials to fully check out the craft's robotic arm, drill, and instruments.

As the views below show, the terrain inside Gale crater is a fascinating mix of the alien and the familiar.

Curiosity used the Mars Hand Lens Imager at the end of its robotic arm to record this 55-image self-portrait amid an area called "Rocknest Wind Drift" on October 31, 2012 — the 84th Martian day, or sol, of its mission. The rover's robotic arm is not visible because MAHLI is on the turret at the end of the arm. At upper right is Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp"), the rover's ultimate destination. Click on the image for a larger, annotated view. NASA / JPL / MSSS

These sedimentary layers at the base of Aeolis Mons (also called Mount Sharp) are the key destination of Curiosity. In this enhanced view, part of a larger image taken by the rover's 100-mm Mast Camera on August 23, 2012, the mound at center is about 1,000 feet (300 m) across. Click on the image for a larger view. NASA / JPL / MSSS

This pair of images from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover shows a portion of a wind-blown deposit dubbed "Rocknest," where the rover has scooped up a sample for analysis by its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, or CheMin. The colors in the image at left are unmodified, showing the scene as it would appear on Mars, which has a dusty red-colored atmosphere. The image at right has been white-balanced to show what the same area would look like under the lighting conditions on Earth. Click on the image for a larger version. NASA / JPL / MSSS

This map traces Curiosity's route across the Martian landscape during its first 130 "sols", through mid-December 2012. Yellowknife Bay is where the rover used its hammering drill for the first time. Click on the image to see a more detailed version of the Yellowknife Bay region. NASA / JPL / Univ. of Arizona

Curiosity took its first "bite" into the surface of Mars on October 7, 2012. Left: the ground at the location "Rocknest" after a scoopful of sand and dust had been removed. Right: The material inside the rover's scoop, which is 2.8 inches (7 cm) long. Click on the image for a larger view. NASA / JPL / MSSS

A patch of rock, dubbed "Ekwir 1", seen before and after it was brushed clean by Curiosity's Dust Removal Tool (DRT) on January 6, 2013. The rover's arm-mounted MAHLI camera took these images. The cleared rock surface is about 2.4 inches (62 mm) wide. Click on the image for a larger view. NASA / JPL / MSSS

Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to take the images combined into this mosaic of the drill area, called "John Klein." The label "Drill" indicates where the rover ultimately drilled its first hole to obtain a sample. Click on the image for a larger, annotated version. NASA / JPL / MSSS

At center left is the first full-depth hole drilled on Mars by Curiosity on February 8, 2013. About 0.6 inch wide and 2.5 inches deep, it was made in a sedimentary rock called "John Klein". At right is a shallower hole created during a test of the drill two days earlier. Click on the image for a more detailed view. NASA / JPL / MSSS