A NASA rover that is the largest and most capable ever sent to Mars. The car-sized vehicle is part of the agency’s Mars Science Laboratory mission whose goal is to answer the question ‘Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes?’ Launched 26 November 2011 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas rocket, the rover landed on Mars on 5 August 2012 (PDT). Soon after landing, Curiosity's scientific tools found chemical and mineral evidence of past habitable environments on Mars. The rover continues to explore the rock record from a time when Mars could have been home to microbial life.

Among the rover’s other significant discoveries in its five-year mission thus far include making the first radiation measurements from the surface of another planet; the findings indicate that astronauts will be safe on Mars from radiation effects as the levels measured are comparable to those on the International Space Station. Curiosity was also the first craft to drill into a rock on another world, allowing climate studies from billions of years ago showing it could have supported microbial life in the past. It also discovered an ancient stream-bed where water once flowed, indicating that some parts of Mars may have once supported life.

Self portrait of Curiosity rover taken on 15 January 2015 while it was at the Mojave site on Mars.

Credit: NASA

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