Quick Facts

MISSION NAME: Mars Science Laboratory

ROVER NAME: Curiosity

TARGET: Gale Crater, Mars

LAUNCH DATE / TIME / LOCATION: Nov. 26, 2011 / 10:02 a.m. EST (15:02 UTC) / Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

LANDING DATE / TIME / LOCATION: Aug. 5, 2012 / 10:32 p.m. PDT (5:32 UTC) / Gale Crater, Mars

KEY MISSION OBJECTIVE: To assess whether the Martian landing area has ever had or still has environmental conditions favorable to microbial life -- in terms of both habitability and preservation.

ROVER SPECS: About the size of a car, the Curiosity rover has six wheels, 17 cameras, several instruments and tools for gathering and analyzing soil samples and can travel up to about 200 meters (660 feet) per day on Martian terrain.

MORE MISSION INFO:
› Curiosity Rover Discovery Guide
› Mars Science Laboratory Press Kit
› Mars Science Laboratory Fact Sheet
› Mars Science Laboratory Mission Page

Mobile Applications

Be A Martian - Experience Mars as if you were there! Take part in discovery as it happens and join a community of worldwide explorers. This app offers exciting ways to take part in discovery and learn about NASA's Mars missions.
› Download for Android devices
› Download for Apple devices
› Download for Windows devices

Spacecraft 3D - Get an up-close-and-personal look at a variety of NASA spacecraft designed to study the Earth, Mars and the universe, using this augmented reality application.
› Download the AR Target (PDF)

Space Images - Discover, share and explore stunning images and videos of space from NASA missions exploring Mars and beyond.
› Download for iPhone
› Download for iPad
› Download for Android devices

Educational Resources for Students & Teachers

NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity

Meet Curiosity

This illustration shows the rover (a kind of robot) that will explore Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, which landed Aug. 5, 2012. NASA has sent three rovers to the Red Planet over the years, including one called Opportunity that's still actively exploring the planet. With its innovative suite of instruments designed to look for the ingredients of life on Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory is the most advanced rover yet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› See & Learn More
› Download Wallpaper
How Curiosity Got Its Name

Rovers get names just like pets - and their names often say a lot about them. The Mars Science Laboratory rover got its name, "Curiosity," from student Clara Ma (as seen in this photo with the rover) who as a sixth grader entered an essay contest to name the next Mars rover. Ma's essay beat out 9,000 others and she not only got to name the rover, but she also got a special tour of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and signed Curiosity before it was sent to Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› See & Learn More
How Curiostiy Rolls

Twice the size of the wheels on previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity's wheels are made of aluminum and can move independently of one another. This allows the rover to turn in place and drive in arcs - movements that come in handy when driving through tricky Martian terrain or stopping to investigate the surroundings. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› See & Learn More
› Download Wallpaper
At Hand's Reach

Curiosity is essentially a robotic laboratory that can photograph, pick up, investigate and even analyze objects and soil that it comes across. To do so, it has a robotic arm with a "hand" (as seen in this image) that holds a number of tools for performing each of the rover's laboratory tasks, such as drilling, scooping and brushing materials in preparation for examination. The center of the hand can reach 6.2 feet in front of the rover. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› See & Learn More
› Download Wallpaper
All Eyes on Mars

What appear to be the "eyes" of the Curiosity rover actually are very much like eyes. The square and circular lenses seen in this image of Curiosity are specialized cameras for snapping different kinds of images of the Martian terrain. The rover has a total of 17 cameras used for everything from navigating to studying objects. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› See & Learn More
› Download Wallpaper
A Rover's Playground

With a top speed of only 1.5 inches per second on flat, hard ground, Curiosity needs a landing spot on Mars that doesn't require it to travel long distances to do its most important investigations. It took five years and 150 Mars scientists to narrow down a landing site from 60 possibilities. This image shows the final pick, Gale Crater, which spans 96 miles in diameter, and was chosen for its abundance of interesting points of study. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/UA

› See & Learn More
› Download Wallpaper
The Rover's Shell

Before it began its journey to Mars, the rover was packed inside this contraption called an aeroshell to protect it during its trip to the Red Planet. This particular aeroshell is the biggest ever built for a mission to a planet and is the first to have its own steering capabilities. It's also covered by a heat shield that will protect the spacecraft as external temperatures reach as high as 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin

› See & Learn More
› Download Wallpaper
'Chuting for Mars

The mission will use a number of contraptions to safely land the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on Aug. 5, 2012. One of these contraptions is the parachute, imaged here, which at 165 feet in length and 51 feet in diameter is the largest ever built for a space mission. Designed to operate at speeds as high as about 1,450 mph, the parachute will deploy a little more than 20 minutes after the spacecraft first enters Mars' atmosphere. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› See & Learn More
Getting to the Surface

When the spacecraft has left its parachute and is little less than a mile above the Martian surface - yet rushing toward it at a speed of 180 mph - a device called the descent stage will turn on its eight rockets. The descent stage, illustrated here, will act like brakes on a car to slow the spacecraft's speed to less than two miles per hour. It will then lower the Curiosity rover on a sort of crane/bungee system to the surface of Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› See & Learn More
› Download Wallpaper

WATCH

Curiosity Rover Landing Trailer

This animation shows the major mission events of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars Aug. 5, 2012.

› Play video

Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover Mission Animation

This artist's concept animation depicts key events of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, launched in late 2011.

› Play video | › Play narrated video

Mars In A Minute Series (4 videos)

These 60-second animated movies are a quick and fun way to learn about Mars and NASA's newest Mars rover.

Building Curiosity Series (11 videos)

Get a behind-the-scenes look at engineers building and testing NASA's Curiosity rover in the clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The Challenges of Getting to Mars Series (6 videos)

Learn about the challenges that mission team members face in sending one of NASA's most ambitious missions to the surface of Mars.

Cruising with Curiosity Series (5 videos)

Fly along with NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, (and mission team members on Earth) as the spacecraft makes its way to the Red Planet and prepares for its Aug. 5 landing on Mars!

READ

Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover Discovery Guide

Learn how NASA's Curiosity rover will use advanced robotics to study whether life could exist on Mars with these educational activities, images and fun facts.

› Read more

Earth/Mars Comparison Poster

This beautiful poster helps illustrate how Earth and Mars compare and includes educational acitivities on the back.

› Poster (front) | › Poster (back with educational activities)

DO

Explore Your Curiosity - Summer of Innovation

Explore Your Curiosity Curriculum - Summer of Innovation

NASA/JPL's Summer of Innovation, a program to equip educators in underrepresented communities with activities and resources for summer, has put together this new curriculum for 2012 with more than 30 classroom activities all about Mars and the Curiosity Rover. › Get involved with NASA/JPL's Summer of Innovation

Marsbound! Mission to the Red Planet

This fun board activity teaches students the process of design, engineering and technology on a mission they create for Mars.

› Go to activity guide

Let's Investigate Mars!

This lesson will help your students answer the question: What do I need to know about Mars to live there in the future?

› Go to activity guide

Getting Dirty on Mars

In this lab activity, students compare soil from Earth to simulated Martian soil.

› Go to activity guide

Mars Activity Book

This activity guide for teachers and students contains two-dozen activities related to Mars and Mars exploration.

› Go to activity

Mars Student Imaging Project

The Mars Student Imaging Project allows students to use a camera on the Odyssey orbiter to take their own image of the red planet and analyze it using the scientific method.

› Learn more

Imagine Mars

Imagine Mars is a national arts, science and technology initiative that challenges young people to imagine and design a livable Mars community of the future.

› Learn more

PLAY

Explore Mars

This 3D interactive experience uses the Unity game engine. It enables delivery of a 3D terrain map of Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed on Aug. 5, as well as a 3-D model of the rover so you can follow along as if you were there.

Mars Rover Landing Game for Xbox

Try your skills at the challenges of landing a rover on Mars! This game uses the Kinect motion sensor on the Xbox 360 and is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace and Kinect Central.

› Xbox Marketplace

Eyes on the Solar System: Curiosity Edition

Fly along with a virtual Curiosity as it lands on Mars in this highly interactive view of the solar system and NASA's missions to explore it.

› Launch interactive

Be a Martian Interactive

Students can become a citizen scientist and improve Martian maps, take part in research tasks and assist Mars science teams studying data about the Red Planet.

› Launch interactive