PROMISE is a hybrid engineering development version that draws on Mars Perseverance and Curiosity heritage designs to survey the lunar surface and subsurface and prospect for resources.
The Perseverance rover cost $300 million less than Curiosity by reusing the same design and spare parts.
Curiosity’s panorama shows a region with a large network of boxwork formations created by groundwater that once flowed through fractures in the rock.
Curiosity has been climbing Mount Sharp since 2014.
Curiosity landed on the floor of Gale Crater in 2012 to determine whether Mars had conditions that could support life.
Curiosity’s 360-degree panorama was composed of 1,031 images taken between November 9 and December 7, 2025.
NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers captured two 360-degree panoramas of Mars in 2025 and 2026.
Curiosity is nearly 15 years old and is exploring terrain near Mount Sharp.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory built and operates Curiosity and Perseverance for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate within the agency’s Mars Exploration Program.
Jessica Watkins studied the Martian surface as a geologist and served on the Curiosity rover science team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Curiosity uses the Sample Analysis at Mars mini-laboratory to analyze drilled rock samples.
The Curiosity sample contained 21 carbon-bearing molecules, including seven that were detected on Mars for the first time.
NASA's Curiosity rover analyzed a rock sample in 2020 that contains the widest variety of organic molecules ever found on Mars.
The rock sample analyzed by Curiosity was nicknamed Mary Anning 3.
SuperCam’s LIBS technology was previously used on the ChemCam instrument operating on the Curiosity rover since 2012.
ChemCam operates on NASA’s Curiosity rover and has used LIBS technology since 2012.
Michela Muñoz contributed to NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rover missions while at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Curiosity operations are monitoring dust locally for dust devils and remotely for dust levels in the crater and wider atmosphere during the dusty season.
Scientists reported identifying small amounts of decane, undecane, and dodecane in a rock sample analyzed in the chemistry lab aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover in March 2025.
The Curiosity rock sample containing decane, undecane, and dodecane was collected from ancient mudstone in Gale Crater.