Close-up of Mars Curiosity Rover Mouse Mat

This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Curiosity was launched in November 2011. In this picture, the mast, or rover's "head," rises to about 2.1 metres (6.9 feet) above ground level, about as tall as a basketball player. This mast supports two remote-sensing instruments: the Mast Camera, or "eyes," for stereo colour viewing of surrounding terrain and material collected by the arm; and, the ChemCam instrument, which is a laser that vaporises material from rocks up to about 9 metres (30 feet) away and determines what elements the rocks are made of.