When the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in the Gale Crater 10 years ago, its mission — to determine whether the Red Planet was ever habitable to microbial life — was expected to last just a few years. More than a decade later, the rover is still going — and so is its collecting and delivery of fascinating scientific data. In this episode, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Nina Lanza and Sam Clegg talk about the major discoveries made by the LANL-developed ChemCam instrument on the rover.
The Curiosity mission was supposed to last about two years, but more than a decade later the rover is still going — making remarkable discoveries all along the way.
Mars Technica is produced by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Cover art by Joey Montoya.