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Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

The Mars Science Laboratory mission's Curiosity rover, the most technologically advanced rover ever built, landed in Mars' Gale Crater the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT) using a series of complicated landing maneuvers never before attempted. The specialized landing sequence, which employed a giant parachute, a jet-controlled descent vehicle and a bungee-like apparatus called a "sky crane," was devised because tested landing techniques used during previous rover missions could not safely accommodate the much larger and heavier rover.
  Curiosity's mission is to determine whether the Red Planet ever was, or is, habitable to microbial life. The rover, which is about the size of a MINI Cooper, is equipped with 17 cameras and a robotic arm containing a suite of specialized laboratory-like tools and instruments.
  The mission is planned to operate on Mars over at least a full martian year (687 Earth days). The rover has eight science objectives:
  • determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds
  • inventory the chemical building blocks of life
  • identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes
  • investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the martian
      surface and near-surface geological materials
  • interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils
  • assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) atmospheric evolution processes
  • determine the present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide
  • characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic cosmic
      radiation, solar proton events, and secondary neutrons


    • Curiosity Instruments
  • Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS)
  • Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam)
  • Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin)
  • Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN)
  • Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams)
  • Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)
  • Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI)
  • Mast Camera (Mastcam)
  • Navigation Cameras (Navcams)
  • Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD)
  • Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS)
  • Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)

The Imaging Node archives Hazcam and Navcam 'operations data' and MAHLI, MARDI and Mastcam science data.