Curiosity’s chauffeur carried the rover though space for eight months and—with the help of a heat shield, a parachute, and a rocket-powered platform—deposited the rover gently on the surface of Mars on August 6.

The rover is decked out with the most state of the art geology tools of any rover yet. So far it has photographed rock formations, analyzed sediment samples, and discovered a riverbed—the most direct evidence to date of potentially life-giving water on Mars.

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