Happy anniversary to Curiosity on Mars

The Curiosity rover has celebrated its anniversary on Mars, having landed on the surface of the planet on August 6th, 2012. Since the successful landing in the Gale crater, Curiosity has already fulfilled the main aim of its mission, by finding ancient signs of water that could have supported life. These took the form of stream bed pebble deposits and the discovery of particular types or rock which could only have formed in a water-based environment.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden confidently declared "Successes of our Curiosity -- that dramatic touchdown a year ago and the science findings since then -- advance us toward further exploration, including sending humans to an asteroid and Mars. Wheel tracks now, will lead to boot prints later." During the flight to Mars, the mission measured natural radiation levels. While on the surface, the rover is measuring radiation and weather which will help to design future human missions to the planet.

Right now, Curiosity is moving slowly towards its next target where it will unleash once again its powerful analytical weaponry. At Mount Sharp, it will use its range of spectroscopic instrumentation to test the minerals present. There appear to be clay and sulphate minerals which will help to uncover the geological history.

Some interesting facts. So far, Curiosity has:

• collected 190 gigabits of data
• returned more than 36,700 full images and 35,000 thumbnail images
• fired more than 75,000 laser shots
• driven more than one mile.

You can keep up to date by following Curiosity on Twitter.