NASA Curiosity Rover Celebrates Five Years of Mars Exploration
NASA recently celebrated five years of the Curiosity rover's Mars exploration, showcasing photos taken by the car-sized robot.
The Curiosity rover officially landed on Mars on the night of August 5, 2012. It successfully settled onto the Red Planet after being lowered through cables by a rocket-powered sky crane. The landing was witnessed by many people all over the world, making it one of the most historical moments ever.
Weeks after arriving at the Gale Crater on Mars, Curiosity explored an ancient streambed where water used to flow. Mission scientists eventually discovered that an area nearby called Yellowknife Bay once had microbial life. Curiosity's work later led to more discoveries involving the Gale Crater environment.
"I feel like we're arriving at a second conclusion from the mission that's just as powerful as the first, which is that habitable environments persisted on Mars for at least millions of years," Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Space.com.
One of the most notable images taken by Curiosity is the photo of the Namib Dune. With a height of four meters above ground level, the dune appears to be dark and imposing. It can be found in the Bagnold Dunes located at Mount Sharp.
Curiosity has also left its mark on Mars by drilling holes to examine soil particles. Thanks to the samples sent by Curiosity, scientists learned that roughly two percent of the soil on Mars is made up of water.
Curiosity was developed with 11 different scientific instruments and three cameras to determine Mars' habitability. It has sensors to analyze samples from the environment and detect radiation levels on the planet. It can also sniff the atmosphere to help scientists learn more about the organic molecules found in Mars.
