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Mars Exploration Program

NASA Mars Curiosity Rover: Two Years and Counting on Red Planet

Curiosity Tracks in 'Hidden Valley' on Mars
Curiosity Tracks in 'Hidden Valley' on Mars
This image from the Navigation Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows wheel tracks printed by the rover as it drove on the sandy floor of a lowland called "Hidden Valley" on the route toward Mount Sharp. The image was taken on Aug. 4, 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech



"Before landing, we expected that we would need to drive much farther before answering that habitability question," said Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "We were able to take advantage of landing very close to an ancient streambed and lake. Now we want to learn more about how environmental conditions on Mars evolved, and we know where to go to do that."


Send a Postcard to Curiosity!
For about half of July, the rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, drove Curiosity across an area of hazardous sharp rocks on Mars called "Zabriskie Plateau." Damage to Curiosity's aluminum wheels from driving across similar terrain last year prompted a change in route, with the plan of skirting such rock-studded terrain wherever feasible. The one-eighth mile (200 meters) across Zabriskie Plateau was one of the longest stretches without a suitable detour on the redesigned route toward the long-term science destination.


Send a Postcard to Curiosity!
To help prepare for future human missions to Mars, Curiosity incudes a radiation detector to measure the environment astronauts will encounter on a round-trip between Earth and the Martian surface. The data are consistent with earlier predictions and will help NASA scientists and engineers develop new technologies to protect astronauts in deep space.


Additionally, NASA recently announced that its next rover going to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully selected instruments to conduct unprecedented investigations in science and technology, as well as capabilities needed for humans to pioneer the Red Planet.

Based on the design of the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, the new rover will carry more sophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover's landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life.





Follow our progress on NASA's Journey to Mars at:

For more information about Curiosity, visit:


Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters, Washington

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