page_title: Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory
section_title: 2019 events
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory / 2019 events
caption_attribution_description: English: MAY 15, 2019 - Curiosity's Proposed Path up Mount Sharp https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA23179 This animation shows a proposed route for NASA's Curiosity rover, which is climbing lower Mount Sharp on Mars. The annotated version of the map labels different regions that scientists working with the rover would like to explore in coming years. A flyover video explains them in more detail. Data used in creating this map came from several instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), including the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and the Context Camera (CTX). The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express also contributed data. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace &amp; Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, led the work to build CRISM, which it operates in coordination with an international team of researchers from universities, government and the private sector. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates CTX. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
context_page_description: The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover, Curiosity, were launched from Earth on November 26, 2011. As of August 29, 2020, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for 2867 sols since landing on August 5, 2012.
context_section_description: On February 1, 2019, NASA scientists reported that the Mars Curiosity rover determined, for the first time, the density of Mount Sharp in Gale crater, thereby establishing a clearer understanding of how the mountain was formed.
  On April 4, 2019, NASA released images of solar eclipses by the two moons of the planet Mars, Phobos (animation1) and Deimos (animation2), as viewed by the Curiosity rover on the planet Mars in March 2019.
  On April 11, 2019, NASA announced that the Curiosity rover on the planet Mars drilled into, and closely studied, a "clay-bearing unit" which, according to the rover Project Manager, is a "major milestone" in Curiosity's journey up Mount Sharp.
  During June 2019, while still studying the clay-bearing unit, Curiosity detected the highest levels of methane gas, 21 parts per billion, compared to the typical 1 part per billion the rover detects as normal background readings. The levels of methane dropped quickly over a few days, leading NASA to call this event one of several methane plumes that they have observed before but without any observable pattern. The rover lacked the necessary instrumentation to determine if the methane was biological or inorganic in nature.
  In October 2019, evidence, uncovered by the Curiosity rover on Mount Sharp, was reported of a 150 km (93 mi) wide ancient basin in Gale crater that once may have contained a salty lake.
caption: Mars Curiosity rover explores Mount Sharp (15 May 2019)
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