Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory November 27, 2013, an overview (titled, "The World of Mars") of current and proposed Mars exploration by John Grotzinger, chief scientist of the "Curiosity" rover mission, was published in the New York Times. On December 9, 2013, NASA reported that the planet Mars had a large freshwater lake (which could have been a hospitable environment for microbial life) based on evidence from the "Curiosity" rover studying Aeolis Palus near Mount Sharp in Gale Crater. On December 9, 2013, NASA researchers described, in a series of six articles in the journal Science, many new discoveries from the "Curiosity" rover. Possible organics
Mars sample-return mission NASA and ESA called ExoMars, would launch in 2018 with unspecified missions to return the sample itself expected in the 2020–2022 time frame. The cancellation of the caching rover MAX-C and later NASA withdrawal from ExoMars, pushed back a sample-return mission to an undetermined date. Due to budget limitations the MAX-C mission, which was the first NASA-ESA mission leading to a MSR, was canceled in 2011 and the overall plan in 2012. The pull-out was described as "traumatic" for the science community. However, in April 2018, a letter of intent was signed by NASA and ESA that may provide a