Curiosity taking a break

The now famous 'Curiosity' Mars rover is taking a break from a solid 2 months of travelling across the Martian surface. 

Since the tense landing back in August 2012, the Curiosity rover has stayed within its landing square, waiting for the cue to start rolling towards its goal. It has waited almost a full year for the green light, but it started to gently roll forward in July of 2013. Now, after 2 months of silently creeping forward, the rover is going to make a stop at a group of Martian rocks, which have been dubbed "Darwin". This is the first waypoint of what the NASA officials hope to be 5, if no more interesting formations come to light, after which Curiosity will move on to Mount Sharp, the mountain that dominates the Gale Crater.

An image of the Darwin rock formation (source:www.jpl.nasa.gov)

The Curiosity rover will be analyzing the rock formation for "a few sols only" (a 'sol' is a Martian day, 39 minutes longer than an Earth day). During this time it shall only be using its remote sensing equipment, NASA has no intent to drill into the formation. Darwin will allow NASA to investigate what they are calling a 'conglomerate', a group of pebbles cemented together with a finer mineral, and compare it to formations found earlier in the mission. The mineral in question is believed to be similar to sediment that is deposited in rivers here on Earth, possibly proving that the Gale Crater and potentially Mars as a whole once flowed with water. This could also give us yet another hint as to whether Mars once accommodated life on its surface, breaking apart one of the most asked questions in Astronomical studies.

For more information on Curiosity's journey, feel free to click the following link to BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24110442