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 Human Exploration Rover Challenge NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, prior to 2014 referred to as the Great Moonbuggy Race, is an annual competition for high school and college students to design, build, and race human-powered, collapsible vehicles over simulated lunar/Martian terrain. NASA sponsors the competition, first held in 1994, and, since 1996, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center hosts. Students created vehicles dubbed "moonbuggies" to face challenges similar to those engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center addressed in preparation for Apollo 15. On that mission, on July 31, 1971, the first Lunar Roving Vehicle extended the range