Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed "Curiosity", a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars' habitability, studying its climate and geology, and collecting data for a manned mission to Mars. The rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an international team. MSL successfully carried out the most accurate Martian landing of any known spacecraft, hitting a small target landing ellipse of only , in the Aeolis Palus region of Gale Crater.
Crewed Mars rover are a component of many designs for a human mission to the planet Mars. For example, the Austere Human Missions to Mars proposal proposed including two rovers on its unmanned power and logistics cargo lander. Each rover could hold a crew of two in a pressurized environment, with power coming from a Stirling radioisotope generator. Mars One, a Mars colonization plan intended to be funded by a TV show, plans an unpressurized crewed rover capable of traveling 80 km (50 miles). They said a possible supplier was Astrobotic Technology. The Manned Mars Exploration Rover (MMER) won a design award in