NASA's Curiosity rover marks five years exploring Mars

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Curiosity rover is marking five years of exploring Mars. It was launched with an aim to gather more information about the Red Planet. And it didn't disappoint anyone and found that Mars once had the right chemistry to support living microbes.

The rover landed at the ancient lake, 'the Gale Crater', is now looking for the clues on Mount Sharp. It was found in the middle of the crater. The NASA sent the Curiosity on August 5, 2012.

"The mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, exalted at radio confirmation and first images from Curiosity after the rover's touchdown using a new "sky crane" landing method," NASA said.

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Transmissions at the speed of light took nearly 14 minutes to travel from Mars to Earth, which that day were about 248 million kilometres apart, it further added. Within few weeks of entering into the Red Planet surface, Curiosity found an ancient lake.

"Five years ago tonight, I was rappelling out of a jetpack onto the surface of #Mars. Where were you?," official handle of Curiosity Rover tweeted.

Five years ago tonight, I was rappelling out of a jetpack onto the surface of #Mars. Where were you? https://t.co/N8gLJMmzD8 pic.twitter.com/aaqHQHiLcO

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 5, 2017

With higher destinations ahead, Curiosity will continue exploring how this habitable world changed through time, NASA said.

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