Goal 4: Prepare for human exploration

This drawing of the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, Curiosity, indicates the location of science instruments and some other tools on the car-size rover.

This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover.

Nili Fossae Trough

Curiosity got close to this outcrop on Sept. 9, 2016, which displays finely layered rocks.

This graphic depicts paths by which carbon has been exchanged among Martian interior, surface rocks, polar caps, waters and atmosphere, and also depicts a mechanism by which it is lost from the atm...

This mosaic of images shows layers of sediment on a boulder-sized rock called "Strathdon," as seen by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera carried by NASA's Curiosity rover. The images were tak...

This view from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is a close-up of a two-tone mineral vein at a site called "Garden City" on lower Mount Sharp.

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp.

This small ridge, about 3 feet long, appears to resist wind erosion more than the flatter plates around it. Such differences are among the traits NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is examining at selecte...

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians process the heat shield for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

Soar over the crater on Mars that will be the landing site for NASA's Curiosity rover.

The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station will monitor atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind currents, and ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/INTA (Instituto Naciona...

This is the first image taken by the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover. It shows the shadow of the rover's now-upright mast in the center, and the arm's shadow at left. The arm itself ca...

This image from the right Mast Camera (Mastcam) of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows roughly spherical features.

NASA's Curiosity rover takes a short breather on her trek to Glenelg to check out her arm instruments.

The Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this mosaic as it explored the "clay-bearing unit" on Feb. 3, 2019 (Sol 2309).

Curiosity performs the first investigation of active sand dunes on another planet. Studying the Bagnold Dunes on Mars will help scientists understand the physics of Martian dunes and how they move.

This sped-up movie from the Curiosity rover shows Phobos (the larger of Mars' two moons) passing in front of smaller Deimos. (No audio)

This color panorama shows a 360-degree view of the landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover, including the highest part of Mount Sharp visible to the rover.The images used for the panorama were taken...

This is an artist's concept of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft during its cruise phase between launch and final approach to Mars.

This image from the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an impact scar on Mars made by pieces of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft that the spacecraft shed just before entering the Mar...

An area inside Holden crater was considered as a landing site for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission.

How will we know if Curiosity has landed safely on the surface of Mars?

The first three elements for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) arrive at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane.

This color thumbnail image was obtained by NASA's Curiosity rover during its descent to the surface of Mars on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT).