Curiosity (rover) arm operations were cleared to continue, but drilling remained suspended indefinitely. The "Curiosity" team continued to perform diagnostics and testing on the drill mechanism throughout 2017. "Curiosity" has an advanced payload of scientific equipment on Mars. It is the fourth NASA unmanned surface rover sent to Mars since 1996. Previous successful Mars rovers are "Sojourner" from the Mars Pathfinder mission (1997), and "Spirit" (2004–2010) and "Opportunity" (2004–present) rovers from the Mars Exploration Rover mission. "Curiosity" is long by wide by in height, larger than Mars Exploration Rovers, which are long and have a mass of including of scientific instruments. In
Mars landing after Pillinger's death. The lander appears to have successfully landed but not deployed all of its power and communications panels. Shortly after the launch of Mars Express, NASA sent a pair of twin rovers toward the planet as part of the Mars Exploration Rover mission. On 10 June 2003, NASA's MER-A "(Spirit)" Mars Exploration Rover was launched. It successfully landed in Gusev Crater (believed once to have been a crater lake) on 3 January 2004. It examined rock and soil for evidence of the area's history of water. On July 7, 2003, a second rover, MER-B "(Opportunity)" was launched. It