Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory its journey across Mars, having traveled , since its landing in 2012; on August 1, 2013, the rover traveled over one mile: . On August 6, 2013, NASA celebrated "Curiosity" first year on Mars (August 6, 2012 to August 5, 2013) by programming the rover to perform the "Happy Birthday" song to itself. NASA also released several videos (video-1, video-2) summarizing the rover's accomplishments over the year. Primarily, the mission found evidence of "ancient environments suitable for life" on Mars. The rover drove over one-mile across the Martian terrain, transmitted more than 190 gigabits of data to Earth, including 70,000
Mars sample-return mission request of NASA and the NSF, declared a MSR campaign its highest priority Flagship Mission for that period. In particular, it endorsed the proposed Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C) mission in a "descoped" (less ambitious) form, although this mission plan was officially cancelled in April 2011. In September 2012, the United States' Mars Program Planning Group endorsed a sample-return after evaluating long-term Mars' plans. The key mission requirement for the planned Mars 2020 rover is that it must help prepare NASA for its MSR campaign. which is needed before any crewed mission takes place. Such effort would require three additional vehicles: