Exploring and Sampling on Mars with NASA's 2012 Curiosity Rover

The Mars Science Laboratory mission delivers the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars in August 2012 to assess whether its Gale Crater field site ever was capable of supporting microbial life and preserving a record of life and past environmental conditions. The 150-km crater is one of many near Mars' dichotomy boundary in various states of exhumation as a result of massive regional deposition and erosion. The primary target for Curiosity is the 5-km high mound of stratified materials in the crater's center. Systematic variations in mineralogy and morphology through the section indicate that the sediments have witnessed major changes in regional, if not planetary processes. The Curiosity rover is designed to be robotic field geologist, as previous rovers, and a mobile geochemical laboratory. It is an integrated platform for exploration, monitoring, close inspection, and geochemical sample analysis. The latter capability drives the size and complexity of the rover by requiring a sample acquisition, processing, and analysis system consisting of a 2-m robot arm, rotary percussion drill, scoop, sieves and portioning tools, and the analytical instruments themselves. The rover will explore the region near Gale Crater for at least two Earth years, analyzing dozens of samples of Martian rock and soil.