Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover
-
Curiosity: The Next Mars Rover (Artist's Concept)
This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. The rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover's arm.
› Full image and caption
-
Curiosity's Surroundings
This is one of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT). The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has been sprung open.
› Full image and caption
-
Curiosity Approaching Mars, Artist's Concept
This is an artist's concept of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft approaching Mars. The Curiosity rover is safely tucked inside the spacecraft's aeroshell.
› Full image and caption
-
Mars Science Laboratory Parachute, Artist's Concept
This artist's concept is of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover parachute system; the largest parachute ever built to fly on a planetary mission. The parachute is attached to the top of the backshell portion of the spacecraft's aeroshell.
› Full image and caption
-
Curiosity While on Parachute, Artist's Concept
This artist's concept shows NASA's Curiosity rover tucked inside the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's backshell while the spacecraft is descending on a parachute toward Mars. Here, the spacecraft's heat shield has already been jettisoned.
› Full image and caption
-
Curiosity Touching Down, Artist's Concept
This artist's concept depicts the moment that NASA's Curiosity rover touches down onto the Martian surface. The Mars Science Laboratory will use the sky crane touchdown system.
› Full image and caption
-
Mars Rover Curiosity, Turning in Place
This photograph of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, was taken during mobility testing on June 3, 2011. The location is inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
› Full image and caption
-
Ramp Drive Test for Curiosity Mars Rover
NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, drives up a ramp during a test at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The rover, like its smaller predecessors already on Mars, uses a rocker bogie suspension system to drive over uneven ground.
› Full image and caption
-
Mars Rover Curiosity, Right Side View
This photograph of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, was taken during mobility testing on June 3, 2011. The location is inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
› Full image and caption
-
Connecting Curiosity's Heat Shield and Back Shell
At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the 'back shell powered descent vehicle' configuration, containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is being placed on the spacecraft's heat shield.
› Full image and caption
Mission Summary
The Mars Science Laboratory mission's Curiosity rover, the most technologically advanced rover ever built, landed in Mars' Gale Crater the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT) using a series of complicated landing maneuvers never before attempted. The specialized landing sequence, which employed a giant parachute, a jet-controlled descent vehicle and a bungee-like apparatus called a "sky crane," was devised because tested landing techniques used during previous rover missions could not safely accommodate the much larger and heavier rover.
Curiosity's mission is to determine whether the Red Planet ever was, or is, habitable to microbial life. The rover, which is about the size of a MINI Cooper, is equipped with 17 cameras and a robotic arm containing a suite of specialized laboratory-like tools and instruments.
Scientific Instrument(s)
- Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)
- Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam)
- Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS)
- Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin)
- Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN)
- Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)
- Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI)
- Mast Camera (Mastcam)
- Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD)
- Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS)
