NASA's Curiosity rover touched down the surface of Mars eight years ago, on Aug. 5, 2012, at the basin of Gale Crater. The focus was to study whether the red planet had, at any given point in time, water, chemical building blocks, and energy sources to support microbial life. So, if we're using earth's rotation as the measurement of time, we can technically wish Curiosity a happy birthday! Equipped with an array of instruments, it has drilled ...