The Mars Science Laboratory was a NASA mission that carried the rover Curiosity to Mars, launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas V rocket. The rover landed in Gale Crater in August 2012 using a novel system called the sky crane, which lowered it on cables from a hovering rocket-powered platform. Curiosity is about the size of a small car and carries instruments to analyse rocks, soil and the atmosphere. It found evidence that Gale Crater once held a lake with water and the chemical ingredients needed for life, and it has been climbing the slopes of Mount Sharp, studying layers that record changes in the planet's climate.
Before and after
- 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
- 17 December 2011Death of Kim Jong-il
More in Universe & space
- 22 October 1969Discovery of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
- 14 September 1974Discovery of Leda
- 24 May 1981Discovery of Larissa
- 22 August 1981Discovery of Pan
- 18 September 1989Discovery of Naiad
- 26 June 2012Discovery of Styx
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.