NASA is celebrating its Curiosity Rover's first full year of exploring the Red Planet this week.
It takes Mars almost twice as long as it does Earth to completely orbit the sun due to the Red Planet being farther from the sun, according to The Los Angeles Times. A full Martian year is equivalent to 687 earth days, close to two years for Earth.
Mission scientists at first doubted that the rover would be able to fulfill its main objective of figuring out if life ever existed on Mars.
Curiosity has made a number of findings since landing on Mars in August 2012 - including an ancient riverbed at its landing site. The rover has also confirmed at an area called Yellowknife Bay that the Martian Gale Crater was at one point habitable for simple life forms, Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported.
The rover also assessed levels of radiation both during the flight to the Red Planet and on the planet's surface to learn how to design protection for missions that involve sending over humans. It also made measurements determining that Mars' atmosphere has very little methane, a gas that can be biologically produced. Curiosity was additionally able to determine the age of rocks on the planet and how long they have been exposed to radiation in order to help scientists learn when water flowed and estimate the rate at which organic compounds in rocks and soil degraded.
Curiosity drilled and collected a sample from the sandstone site Windjana this spring, and is currently carrying the sample for follow-up analysis.
The rover's main focus for its second Martian year will be driving. It is currently traveling toward Murray Buttes, which is southwest from the Bradbury Landing site, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The buttes has been determined to be the best entry point for Mt. Sharp, a 3.4 mile-high mountain, which is Curiosity's ultimate destination. It is at this location where Curiosity will study layers of rock deposited over billions of years in order to find clues that can help researchers gain a better understanding of Mars' early environment.
