What Curiosity Means for Science

From our friends at CERN to our colleagues at NASA, it’s been a big summer for science.

All eyes were on the sky during the early morning hours of August 6^th, as NASA’s Curiosity rover touched down on Mars.

It was yet another giant leap forward for science and engineering, made possible through years of hard work.

But now that Curiosity has landed on the red planet, what’s next?

For the next two years, the rover will investigate Mars, sending back information that was previously inaccessible to us here on Earth.

Its primary goals will be to study the Martian climate and geology, in hopes of determining whether Mars could have ever supported life.

Curiosity will also help pave the way for human exploration of the planet.

While the rover will cease to operate in twenty-four months’ time, its legacy will live on. Curiosity represents a stunning accomplishment for the countless men and women who contributed to its creation, and serves as an analogy for what we can achieve when we work hard and dream big.