Скачать или смотреть Mars Rover - Curiosity, the car-sized rover !

Curiosity (Mars 2020) is a car-sized rover designed to explore the crater Gale on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL). Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26th, 2011, at 15:02 UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale on Mars on August 6th, 2012, 05:17 UTC. The Bradbury Landing site was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a 56 million km (35 million mi) journey. The rover's goals include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology; assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water; and planetary habitability studies in preparation for human exploration.

In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely, and on August 5th, 2017, NASA celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Curiosity rover landing. The rover is still operational since landing on August 6th, 2012.

Curiosity's design serves as the basis for the planned Perseverance Rover, which will carry different scientific instruments, including Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter.

India will attempt to land a rover on Mars in 2024. Mangalyaan 2 (Mars Orbiter Mission 2) may include a lander and rover. While this is still in the planning phase, it is possible that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) may employ the 'sky crane' method of surface payload delivery. Good luck to India, Mangalyaan and ISRO there.

 Thanks to NASA, JPL and Caltech for this animation.