This head-on view shows the tip of the drill bit on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. The view merges two exposures taken by the remote micro-imager in the rover's Chemistry and Camera instrument at different focus settings during the 172nd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Jan. 29, 2012). The merged product shows more of the hardware in focus than would be seen in a single exposure.

The scale bar at lower right is 2.3 millimeters (0.09 inch).

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.