This NASA illustration shows how Curiosity landed on the surface of Mars.
After making a nine-month-long journey through space, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on the surface of Mars on August 5 at 10:32 P.M. Pacific Standard Time. As the capsule carrying Curiosity neared Mars, it opened a parachute to slow down, and then lowered the rover to the surface on a cable. The landing was tricky, and NASA scientists said there was no room for mistakes. Because they had never tried this kind of landing before, members of the Curiosity team were worried that something could go wrong. They called the time it took to land the rover “seven minutes of terror.” When it finally touched down, members of the Curiosity team and other onlookers cheered with excitement.
After it landed, Curiosity posted an automated message on Twitter that said, “I’m safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!” The ancient Gale Crater is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island put together. Curiosity also took three photographs of the planet’s surface and sent the images back to Earth.
Curiosity is the fourth rover NASA has sent to Mars, but it is larger and has more advanced technology than the other rovers. It is the size of a small car and carries a large onboard laboratory. Curiosity’s mission is to search for signs that there may have once been life on Mars. Its mission is expected to last for two or more years. Using its robotic arm, special cameras, a laser, and other tools, the rover will study samples that it will scoop from soil and drill from rocks. It will run tests on the samples to look for chemical building blocks of life, such as certain forms of carbon. Studying the samples should also give a clear picture of what the Martian environment was like in the past.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Related Links
- Mars Science Laboratory – Curiosity Rover
Learn more about the Curiosity rover through photos, videos, and other details about its mission.
- JPL Education – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Find out more about Curiosity’s mission and learn other facts about space exploration from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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