NASA's Curiosity rover and its rocket-powered descent vehicle pose for a portrait at JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing on Mars, the rover will investigate whether Gale Crater ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl or http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.