Curiosity Mission Goals and Objectives















































    CERTIFIED
    The Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) landed at Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012 with the primary goal of examining Mars' environment to see if it could have supported life at some point in the past. MSL is part of a larger science strategy defined by the Mars Exploration Program, which has four primary science goals. The MSL mission itself has four mission objectives which were designed to support the Mars Exploration Program's science goals.

    MSL Mission Goal

    The goal of the MSL mission is to assess Mars' habitability. The following four mission objectives were designed to meet this goal.

    MSL Science Objectives:

    Biological objectives:
    • •Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds
    • •Inventory the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur)
    • •Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes

    Geological and geochemical objectives:
    • •Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials
    • •Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils

    Planetary process objectives
    • •Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) atmospheric evolution processes
    • •Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide

    Surface radiation objective:
    • •Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic cosmic radiation, solar proton events, and secondary neutrons

    Mars Exploration Program Science Goals

    The MSL mission marks the transition between the themes of "Follow the Water" and "Seek Signs of Life" in the overall Mars Exploration Program. The four main science goals of the Mars Exploration Program are listed below.









    Determine whether life ever arose on Mars








    Characterize the climate of Mars


    Characterize the geology of Mars


    Prepare for human exploration












    Helpful Links

    Mission Description
    Spacecraft Description