Curiosity (rover) the passion that drives us through our everyday lives." On August 6, 2013, "Curiosity" audibly played "Happy Birthday to You" in honor of the one Earth year mark of its Martian landing, the first time for a song to be played on another planet. This was also the first time music was transmitted between two planets. On June 24, 2014, "Curiosity" completed a Martian year—687 Earth days—after finding that Mars once had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. "Curiosity" will serve as the basis for the design of the Mars 2020 rover mission that is presently planned to be launched
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