Curiosity is a vehicle-sized Mars rover designed to explore craters on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral in November 2011, and landed inside Gale crater on Mars in August 2012 after a 560 million km journey. The Curiosity mission is to investigate climate and geology, evidence of conditions that could have been favorable for water flow and microbial life, and habitability studies in preparation for manned landings. In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely. The rover is still operational as of March 2023, and has been active for over 10 years. At the right is a 'selfie' that Curiosity took of itself shortly after landing. Inside Gale crater shortly after landing. Jutting rocks, rough terrain, and hills off in the distance make this image seem ver earth-like. Thirty two individual images made up this panoramic image of 'Mont Mercou' Examining a sulfate-bearing region as part of a search for ancient wet conditions Mars is actually yellowish-brown, rather than red, as seen here at Aeolis Mons Go Back