The Curiosity Rover is alone on the surface of Mars, but its teams here on Earth are helping it out every step of the way. Curiosity has different driving capabilities on different surfaces, and needs to pass by a variety of sites for thorough data collection. These maps show some optimized routes for the rover to take for safety and for science.

Green shows slopes that are completely safe, yellow slopes call for caution but are still traversable, and red slopes are unsafe for the rover to attempt.

To ensure mistakes in surface material identification don’t result in an accident, the sand map should be used for path definition for the rover.