Yellowknife Bay, Mars the Glenelg member and began its journey to Mount Sharp. NASA scientists estimated this drive would take the rover a year to complete. Yellowknife Bay, Mars Yellowknife Bay is a geologic formation in Gale Crater on the planet Mars. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Rover, named "Curiosity", arrived at the low lying depression on December 17, 2012, 125 sols, or martian days, into its 668 sol planned mission on the planet. Primary mission goals of the Mars Science Laboratory were to assess the potential habitability of the planet and whether or not the Martian environment is, or has ever been, capable
Curiosity (rover) ("Mount Sharp"), at the center of the wide crater. Thus, it is believed that the rover may have the opportunity to study two billion years of Martian history in the sediments exposed in the mountain. Additionally, its landing site is near an alluvial fan, which is hypothesized to be the result of a flow of ground water, either before the deposition of the eroded sediments or else in relatively recent geologic history. According to NASA, an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 heat-resistant bacterial spores were on "Curiosity" at launch, and as much as 1,000 times that number may not have been