Exploration of Mars over the Pacific Ocean. The NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission with its rover named "Curiosity", was launched on November 26, 2011, and landed on Mars on August 6, 2012 on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater. The rover carries instruments designed to look for past or present conditions relevant to the past or present habitability of Mars. NASA's MAVEN is an orbiter mission to study the upper atmosphere of Mars. It will also serve as a communications relay satellite for robotic landers and rovers on the surface of Mars. MAVEN was launched 18 November 2013 and reached Mars on 22 September
Crewed Mars rover Crewed Mars rover Crewed Mars rovers are vehicles for transporting people on the planet Mars, and have been conceptualized as part of human mission to that planet. Two types of crewed Mars rovers are pressurized and unpressurizedunpressurized designs may have open seating for a crew in Mars space suits, and another style has a pressurized interior for people to work without a space suit. Pressurized rovers have been envisioned for short trips from a Mars base, or they may be equipped to be more of a mobile base or laboratory. They are also called "manned Mars rovers" Crewed Mars rovers