Curiosity has disproved 'old idea of Mars as a simple basaltic planet'
http://phys.org/news/2016-08-curiosity-idea-mars-simple-basaltic.html
As NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) celebrates four years on the Red Planet Leicester planetary scientist Professor
John Bridges recounts the mission's success and explains what is next for the one-ton nuclear-powered science robot.
The Curiosity rover hit the dusty surface of Mars on 6 August 2012 - and began its mission of finding evidence about
whether ancient Mars offered environmental conditions conducive for microbial life.
In March 2013 NASA reported that it had achieved its primary objective after scientists found evidence of oxygen,
nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur, phosphorous and carbon – all essential for supporting living organisms.
Now, the mission, which was scheduled to end this year, has recently been given a two-year extension, with the University
of Leicester's Professor John Bridges continuing as part of the extended NASA science team.
He said: "It's been a great four years – from the excitement of landing we have now had 1421 Martian days of operations
and driven 13.6 km.