Curiosity
Mars rover exploring Gale crater since 2012.
Curiosity is a Mars rover that is exploring Gale crater and Mount Sharp on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Launched in 2011 and landed the following year, the car-sized rover continues to operate more than a decade after its original two-year mission. Its mission goals include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology, an assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, and planetary habitability studies in preparation for human exploration.
- launch_date
- November 26, 2011
- landing_date
- August 6, 2012
- field
- Mars exploration
- operator
- NASA
- known_for
- Assessing ancient Martian habitability and serving as basis for the Perseverance rover
Lore & Background
Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 26, 2011, at 15:02:00 UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17:57 UTC. In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely. Twelve-year-old Clara Ma from Sunflower Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas submitted the winning entry. As her prize, Ma won a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she signed her name directly onto the rover as it was being assembled.
Reader's Guide
Its advanced payload of scientific equipment and its radioisotope thermoelectric generator allow it to operate through all seasons and day and night, unlike previous solar-powered rovers. The mission's main scientific goals are to help determine whether Mars could ever have supported life, determine the role of water, and study the climate and geology of Mars. About one year into the surface mission, having assessed that ancient Mars could have been hospitable to microbial life, the MSL mission objectives evolved to developing predictive models for the preservation process of organic compounds and biomolecules. The NASA/JPL Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Project Team was awarded the 2012 Robert J. Collier Trophy for the extraordinary achievements of successfully landing Curiosity on Mars, advancing technological and engineering capabilities, and significantly improving humanity's understanding of ancient Martian habitable environments.
Did You Know?
- Curiosity is 2.9 m long by 2.7 m wide by 2.2 m high, larger than the Mars Exploration Rovers.
- The rover's name was chosen from a nationwide student contest; the winning entry was submitted by 12-year-old Clara Ma.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Curiosity launch and where did it land?
The rover lifted off on November 26, 2011, and touched down inside Gale crater on August 6, 2012. It has been working in that same field site ever since, climbing toward Mount Sharp's layered deposits.
What is Curiosity's core mission?
Its three main goals are to study Martian climate and geology, determine whether Gale crater ever hosted conditions favorable to microbial life, and collect habitability data that will guide future human exploration of Mars.
Why does Curiosity matter for the search for extraterrestrial life?
By drilling into ancient lakebed sediments and reading mineral signatures, it provides direct evidence of whether liquid water and the right chemistry once coexisted in a way that could have sustained microbes. Those findings shape where and how the next generation of missions will hunt for biosignatures.
More in Space Missions 1-22
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