The Curiosity rover is a car-sized Mars rover currently exploring Gale Crater, near the equator of Mars. The rover is designed to examine whether Mars could have once supported life. It arrived on the Martian surface on 6 August 2012, after leaving Earth on 26 November 2011.
The rover is a nuclear-powered, mobile scientific laboratory, with dozens of instruments. It is part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission by the United States. The MSL mission has four scientific goals:
- investigation of Mars' climate,
- geology,
- investigation of whether Mars could ever have supported life,
- investigation of the role of water.
It is also useful preparation for future missions, perhaps a manned mission to Mars. Curiosity carries the most advanced payload of scientific equipment ever used on the surface of Mars.
The MSL spacecraft carrying Curiosity was launched on November 26, 2011, and the rover was successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012 UTC (August 5, 2012 PDT, NASA mission control time).
