It's Been Over Seven Years Since The Curiosity Rover Landed On Mars. Here's An Image That Shows How Much The Rover Has Changed
It's been nearly seven and a half years since Curiosity landed on Mars and the years really are beginning to show. If you compare the Curiosity Rover to what it looked like at the beginning of its exploration on Mars and what it looks like now, it's clear that roaming around on a planet infamous for its dust storms has left the rover looking a bit run down and dirty:
Despite the changed appearance of the rover, Curiosity is still functioning well and is pretty busy discovering ancient oases, conducting chemistry experiments and taking selfies of itself. One of its most recent selfies is the photo you see on the right in the image above, taken on October 11 last year.
The primary mission of the Curiosity Rover is to study whether or not Mars is suitable for life. Curiosity was launched in 2011 and landed on Mars on August 6, 2012. It will soon be joined by another rover, Mars 2020, which is scheduled to touch down on the planet in 2021.