NASA’s Curiosity Rover took its First Drive on the Surface of Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover took its first drive on the surface of Mars on 23 August 2012. The rover in its first drive moved around six metres from its original landing site. After more tests on its systems, NASA intends to move the Curiosity rover some 400 metres to the southeast to continue its exploration of the red planet.

NASA also released images of the tracks left by the rover, to show the success of the mission. The space agency also announced that the original landing site of the Curiosity rover would be named after the late science fiction author Ray Bradbury who died on 5 June 2012. The site will be known as the Bradbury Landing.

Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on 26 November 2011 aboard the MSL spacecraft and successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on Mars on 6 August 2012. The rover's goals include investigation of the climate and geology on the red planet. The rover would also explore if the Mars was ever hospitable to life. Besides it will also investigate the role of water and planetary habitability, and preparing for human exploration.