NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012 and carried the Chemistry and Camera instrument.
Curiosity reached Gale Crater on 6 August 2012 after a dramatic landing that used a parachute, rocket-powered descent stage, and sky crane. The rover’s main mission is to assess whether Mars ever had environmental conditions capable of supporting microbial life.
Its Chemistry and Camera instrument, called ChemCam, fires a laser at rocks and analyzes the resulting vapor from a distance. This lets scientists study rock composition without requiring the rover to touch every target.
Curiosity is larger and more scientifically capable than the earlier Spirit and Opportunity rovers. It also differs from Perseverance, which landed in 2021 and carries instruments designed partly to collect and cache rock samples for possible future return to Earth.