The combination of a large rover and a small landing target required new, complex landing techniques.

LANDING The rover’s wheels were deployed to help absorb the shock of landing. After the rover touched down, the descent stage flew a safe distance away.

ROVER Curiosity is to spend two years testing rock samples from different layers of Aeolis Mons, trying to determine if Mars could ever have supported microbial life.

SKY CRANE After the parachute and back shell of the capsule detached, the descent stage fired rockets to slow itself, then used a crane to lower the rover to the surface.

PARACHUTE A 51-foot-wide parachute slowed the descent further. The protective heat shield fell away, exposing landing radar and a camera to record the landing.

BRAKING The craft used the thin Martian atmosphere to reduce its speed to about 1,000 miles an hour, while thrusters allowed it to steer toward the landing area.

ENTRY The spacecraft entered the planet’s upper atmosphere about 81 miles above the surface of Mars, at a speed of more than 13,000 miles an hour.

The size of a small car, Curiosity is much larger than previous Mars rovers and carries 10 science instruments.

POWER Dust can cover solar panels on Mars, so Curiosity generates its own power. Eleven pounds of plutonium dioxide generates heat, which is converted to electricity and used to recharge two lithium-ion batteries.

VISION Extending 7 feet above the ground, a mast holds Mastcam, a pair of high-definition cameras, and ChemCam, which can measure the composition of rock after shooting it with a laser.

DRIVE Each of the 20-inch aluminum wheels has its own motor.

REACH The rover’s 7-foot arm carries several tools, including a camera, an X-ray spectrometer, and a drill, brush and scoop for collecting samples.

ANALYSIS The rover’s body holds experiments for detecting ground water, measuring naturally occurring radiation and analyzing soil and rock samples delivered by the robotic arm.