spacetoday.net: Curiosity marks one Martian year on Red Planet

Posted: Wed, Jun 25, 2014, 10:46 AM ET (1446 GMT)
Curiosity self portrait, June 2014 (NASA)

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has now spent a full Martian year on the surface of the planet, achieving its primary mission goal, NASA said this week. Curiosity had been on the surface of Mars for 687 days, one Martian year, as of Tuesday. That milestone marked the completion of the rover's primary mission, which NASA said it successfully achieved by determining that the planet once had conditions hospitable for life. The rover had also made scientific findings in a number of areas, including measuring the radiation environment on the Martian surface and detecting extremely little methane in the planet's atmosphere, contrary to some other studies of the planet's atmosphere. While the primary mission of Curiosity is complete, scientists plan to continue operating the rover for several more years, driving it up the slopes of Aeolis Mons, or Mout Sharp, the mountain in the center of Gale Crater.