NASA's Curiosity Rover is set to land on Mars in 5 days. It is scheduled to land at 5:31 UTC on August 6th. Curiosity is the size of a car, and NASA's biggest Mars Rover yet.
Curiosity was launched by NASA November 26th, 2011. The rover's objectives include determining Mars' habitability, studying the Martian climate, studying Martian geology, and collecting data for a future manned mission to Mars.
The Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort for the robotic exploration of Mars, and the project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of California Institute of Technology. When MSL launched, the program's director was Doug McCuistion of NASA's Planetary Science Division. The total cost of the MSL project is about US$2.5 billion.