Happy fourth, Curiosity: NASA celebrates rover's anniversary with new social media game!

Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

New Delhi: Thanks to NASA's Curiosity rover, which is currently scaling the Martian surface, space enthusiasts have been treated to never seen before images of the rocky planet.

While UFO hunters have sworn Mars to be a home to extra terrestrial presence, with pointing out figures like aliens, spoons, woman, a Buddha statue, a drone, et al, this wouldn't have been possible without Curiosity's wide-angled, amazing photographs.

4th August, 2016 marks Curiosity's fourth anniversary on the Red Planet and this evidently calls for a celebration, which NASA has wasted no time in doing!

The US space agency has released a fun social media game called – wait for it – Mars Rover, which gamers can play while Curiosity works diligently in order to collect its 17th sample.

The game can be played on mobile devices, wherein players get to drive a rover through rough Martian terrain, challenging themselves to navigate and balance the rover while earning points along the way. The game also illustrates how NASA's next Mars rover, in development for launch in 2020, will use radar to search for underground water.

“We're excited about a new way for people on the go to engage with Curiosity's current adventures on Mars and future exploration by NASA's Mars 2020 rover too," said Michelle Viotti, manager of Mars public engagement initiatives at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Using social networks, the user can share the fun with friends. The interest that is shared through gameplay also helps us open a door to deeper literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” as per NASA reports.

JPL collaborated with GAMEE, a network for game-players, for development of the game.