NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover touched down eight years ago, on Aug. 5, 2012, and will soon be joined by another rover, Perseverance, which launched on July 30, 2020.
Curiosity has seen a lot since it first set its wheels inside the 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) basin of Gale Crater. Its mission: to study whether Mars had the water, chemical building blocks, and energy sources that may have supported microbial life billions of years ago.
Since touchdown, the rover journeyed more than 14 miles (23 kilometers), drilling 26 rock samples and scooping six soil samples along the way as it revealed that ancient Mars was indeed suitable for life. Studying the textures and compositions of ancient rock strata is helping scientists piece together how the Martian climate changed over time, losing its lakes and streams until it became the cold desert it is today.
Curiosity took this selfie on Martian Sol 2082 (June 15, 2018 Earth time).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Last Updated: Aug. 5, 2020
Editor: Yvette Smith
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