(October 17, 2012) — If the 200-pound mini cooper-sized Curiosity rover had arrived on Mars 3000 years ago, it would have landed in a stream of clear water and drowned. The location of where extraterrestrial life exists is what makes scientists curious, fueling Curiosity’s mission. Just a month ago, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent the rover to Mars to research Martian climate, environment and geography. As the most Earth-like planet in the solar system, Mars was the perfect candidate to see if microbial life is possible close to Earth. The Curiosity rover’s main objective is to investigate Mount Sharp; a 3-mile high mound of layered rock, taller than California’s Mount Whitney. In 2005, the first signs of water were discovered inside Aram Chaos craters, allowing scientists to conclude that ancient water has existed on Mars at some point. In early Oct. 2012, the rover found physical evidence that a stream of water once ran vigorously across the area of Mars where the rover is, according to NASA. “We can interpret the water was moving about 3 feet per second, with a depth somewhere between ankle and hip deep,” said Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich of UC Berkeley, in the NASA news release. “Plenty of papers have been written about channels on Mars with many different hypotheses about the flows in them. This is the first time we’re actually seeing water-transported gravel on Mars.”