Curiosity is a car-sized NASA rover that was sent to Mars as the centrepiece of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. It lifted off aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida and, after a journey of about eight and a half months, touched down in Gale Crater in August 2012 using a rocket-powered sky crane that lowered it to the surface on cables. The rover is powered by a radioisotope generator rather than solar panels and carries a suite of instruments to analyse rock, soil and air. Its main goal was to judge whether Mars once offered conditions suitable for microbial life, and it found evidence of ancient lakes and streams and of organic molecules. Curiosity has since climbed the lower slopes of Mount Sharp, the layered mountain at the centre of the crater.
Before and after
- 23 October 2011Van earthquake of 2011
- 8 November 2011Launch of Fobos-Grunt
- 10 November 2011The western black rhinoceros is declared extinct
- from 14 November 2011 to 3 January 2013Daraa Governorate clashes
- 26 November 2011Launch of Curiosity
- 26 November 2011Launch of Mars Science Laboratory
- 1 December 2011Launch of JTBC
- 4 December 2011Premiere of Black Mirror
- 5 December 2011Discovery of Kepler-22 b
More in Universe & space
- 4 October 1957Launch of Sputnik 1
- 20 August 1977Launch of Voyager 2
- 28 July 1989Discovery of Galatea
- 23 July 1995Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 10 September 2005Discovery of Dysnomia
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.