Watch Nine Months of Mars Rover Curiosity's Trek in One Minute (Video)

NASA Mars rover Curiosity has been trekking across the Red Planet since August. Now, you can see almost the entirety of the rover's mission in just over a minute. Karl Sanford of Grand Rapids, Michigan, compiled NASA's image to create a time-lapse clip that shows Curiosity's activities as it collects samples for its onboard laboratory.

The YouTube video already has almost 227,000 hits since it was first posted on May 22, and that number is still climbing. According to the Daily Mail, it is Sanford's first attempt at making such a video, which is pretty impressive. The video starts around August 2012 in the early days of the rover's mission, showing the rover moving across the landscape, capturing the track of the sun and the shadows that dance across the planet's surface.

So far, the rover has conducted several different tests. Most recently, it drilled into a rock called "Cumberland," which lies about nine feet west of the rock where the rover's drill first touched the Martian surface in February. There, Curiosity took the first ever sample from Mars from a rock called "John Klein." The first test was a success; scientists were able to see evidence of an ancient environment that was favorable to microbial life, hinting at a Martian past that may have supported alien life. Currently, scientists are still analyzing the data from the second drill sample.

Yet Curiosity isn't only collecting samples, it's also sparked the interest of people across the world. NASA is making an effort to involve the public in its endeavors in space. For example, the space agency recently invited the public to send in haikus and names that the MAVEN spacecraft will ferry to the Red Planet. It's part of an ongoing effort to encourage interest in space activities. In fact, Sanford's effort shouldn't be all that surprising; the images are publically available and free to use.

Want to see the video for yourself? You can check it out below, courtesy of YouTube.