August 2, 2012: This NASA close-up image of a dust storm on Mars was acquired by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA&#039;s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on November 7, 2007, around 3 p.m. local time on Mars. Scientists working with NASA&#039;s Curiosity rover, which is set to land on Mars on August 5, 2012 PDT (August 6 EDT), are monitoring Mars each day for similar small storms that could either drift over the landing site or stir up dust that moves as haze over the site. This image is centered on Utopia Planitia (53.6 degrees north latitude, 147.9 degrees east longitude), along the north seasonal polar cap edge in late northern winter. (NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS HO/AFP/Getty Images)