Analysis of Surface Materials by the Curiosity Mars Rover: Introduction

Abstract

The 6 August 2012 arrival of the Curiosity Rover on the surface of Mars delivered the most technically advanced geochemistry laboratory ever sent to the surface of another planet. Its 10 instruments (1)* were commissioned for operations and were tested on a diverse set of materials, including rocks, soils, and the atmosphere, during the first 100 martian days (sols) of the mission. The five articles presented in full in the online edition of Science (www.sciencemag.org/extra/curiosity), with abstracts in print (pp. 1476–1477), describe the mission's initial results, in which Curiosity's full laboratory capability was used.

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