Curiosity celebrates ten years on Mars

Aug. 5 () –

This August 6 marks the 10th anniversary of the arrival on Mars of the robotic vehicle ‘Curiosity’, with a mission to test past environments conducive to life on the surface of the Red Planet.

‘Curiosity’ took off aboard an Atlas 5 rocket on November 26, 2011 and traveled through space for nine months, traveling 482 million kilometers.

The successful arrival of the rover was a milestone in technology, condensed into seven minutes of dizzying descent from orbit, slowing down with a combination of parachutes, retrorockets, and tether-assisted landing.

Ten years ago, a car-sized rover with a rock-vaporizing laser was rappelling out of a jetpack onto Mars. where were you when @MarsCuriosity landed?

Check out the mission site for the latest raw images, where the rover is now, and updates from the team: https://t.co/esQrgOvI0J pic.twitter.com/m67U6peg3t

— NASA (@NASA) August 5, 2022

The initial goal was for the rover to work for two years on a geological expedition to Mount Sharp, a sedimentary rise in the middle of Gale Crater, located just south of the Martian equator. After touring the crater, Curiosity It is still currently exploring the slopes of the mountain with its cameras and instruments for the collection and chemical analysis of samples.

This scenario was chosen because of the age of the crater, between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years, the same period in which the Earth and the rest of the planets in the Solar System were frequently bombarded by meteorites. It is also the time when Mars was able to host an atmosphere capable of raising the temperature and allowing the presence of liquid water on the surface.

Famous for his ‘selfies’, the work of this vehicle –which has traveled more than 28.5 kilometers– has made it possible to know that Mars had an atmosphere in its youth, there are more detailed data on the planet’s radiation –with a view to future manned missions–, it has found evidence of the existence of liquid water in the past and variable emissions of methane and organic compounds. However, it has found no evidence of life on the Red Planet.