What the Curiosity rover has learned about Mars so far
Helen Thompson
Aug 5, 2017 — 7:21 am EST
MSSS, JPL-Caltech/NASA
August 5 marks the fifth anniversary of the Curiosity rover’s 2012 landing on Mars. The little robot is by now an old pro at doing science on the Red Planet. And this Little Robot That Could has learned a lot.
Its mission had been simple. It was to look for signs that the planet might once have been habitable — for microbes, not for Matt Damon! To do that, NASA sent the robot to Gale Crater. It’s a huge impact basin with a mountain at its center. Curiosity has traveled across the crater, turning over rocks. Along the way, the robot collected evidence of ancient water, minerals, organic chemicals and other materials needed for life.
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/what-curiosity-rover-has-learned-about-mars-so-far
