Pitch and Yaw to steer
Roll and throttle for camera
VTOL and Trim for manipulators


Curiosity is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL). As of July 21, 2016, Curiosity has been on Mars for 1406 sols (1445 total days) since landing on August 6, 2012. (See current status.)
Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011, at 15:02 UTC aboard the MSL spacecraft and landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17 UTC. The Bradbury Landing site was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a 563,000,000 km (350,000,000 mi) journey.
The rover's goals include: investigation of the Martian climate and geology; assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water; and planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration.
Curiosity's design will serve as the basis for the planned Mars 2020 rover. In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely.