This image is a self-portrait of NASA’s six-wheeled robotic Mars rover Curiosity, currently operating on the surface of the Red Planet, obtained by a camera on Curiosity’s robotic arm.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
On 24 June 2014, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity completed a full Martian year, 687 Earth days, having accomplished the mission's main goal of determining whether the past environmental conditions on Mars were once hospitable for microbial life.
One of Curiosity's early big discoveries after reaching the Red Planet in August 2012 was an ancient riverbed at its landing site. Nearby, at an area known as Yellowknife Bay, the mission achieved its main goal of determining whether the Martian Gale Crater ever was favorable for simple life forms. The answer was "yes," coming from two mudstone slabs that Curiosity sampled with its drill. Analysis of these samples revealed the site was once a lakebed with mild water, the essential elemental ingredients for life, and a type of chemical energy source for some microbes. If Mars hosted living organisms, this would have been a good habitat for them.
Other important results during Curiosity’s first Martian year include assessing natural radiation levels on Mars, and the first determinations of the age of a rock on the Martian surface.
Curiosity is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars, as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL).
Curiosity launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on 26 November 2011, aboard the MSL spacecraft, and successfully landed on Mars on 6 August 2012. The landing site was just less than 2.4 km from the center of the rover's planned touchdown location after a 563-million-km interplanetary voyage.
The mission's targets include investigation of the Martian climate and geology and carrying out planetary habitability studies in preparation for future manned missions.
References
NASA
www.nasa.gov/
Curiosity Website
http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/
Wikipedia