Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory Sun, marking the first time a planetary transit has been observed from a celestial body besides Earth. On June 24, 2014, "Curiosity" completed a Martian year—687 Earth days—after finding that Mars once had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. On June 27, 2014, "Curiosity" crossed the of its "" and is now in territory that may get even more interesting, especially in terms of Martian geology and landscape (). On July 12, 2014, "Curiosity" imaged the first laser spark on Mars (; video (01:07).) On August 6, 2014, "Curiosity" celebrated its second anniversary since landing on Mars in 2012. On
NASA Earth Science chemistry, ocean and land ecosystems. It was a NASA scientist, Dr. James Hansen, who first alerted the world to the dangers of global warming due to greenhouse gases emitted by human burning of fossil fuels. Earth Science research also provides the foundations of understanding for the search for extraterrestrial life through the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), in which the focus is often on the extreme conditions for life to survive. NASA Earth Science NASA Earth Science, formerly called the NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE), formerly called Mission To Planet Earth (MTPE), is a NASA research program "to develop a scientific