NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Still Going 10 Years After Landing – What It's Learned - SciTechDaily

Curiosity set out to answer the question: Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes.

Ten years ago, on August 5, 2012, a jetpack lowered NASA’s Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet.

This was the beginning of the SUV-size explorer’s pursuit of evidence that Mars had the conditions needed to support microscopic life billions of years ago.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover set out to answer a big question when it landed on the Red Planet 10 years ago: Could Mars have supported ancient life.

In fact, Curiosity’s mission was recently extended for another three years, allowing it to continue among NASA’s fleet of important astrobiological missions.

Stay curious with NASA and celebrate the agency’s Curiosity Mars rover’s 10th anniversary on the Red Planet with a two-sided poster that lists some of the intrepid explorer’s inspiring accomplishments.

Now, the intrepid rover is driving through a canyon that marks the transition to a new region, one thought to have formed as water was drying out, leaving behind salty minerals called sulfates.

The Curiosity team plans to spend the next few years exploring the sulfate-rich area.

This scene was captured by Curiosity on September 9, 2015, when NASA’s Mars rover was many miles from its current location.

Through careful planning and engineering hacks, the team has every expectation the plucky rover still has years of exploring ahead of it.

“Now, the intrepid rover is driving through a canyon that marks the transition to a new region, one thought to have formed as water was drying out, leaving behind salty minerals called sulfates.”

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