NASA’s Curiosity rover has uncovered new evidence that sheds light on Mars’ dramatic transition from a potentially habitable world with abundant liquid water to the cold, arid, and inhospitable planet we see today.

NASA's Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life—with evidence for widespread liquid water on the surface—to a surface that is inhospitable to terrestrial life as we know it.

At one point, the team steered Curiosity away from more treacherous terrain in favor of smoother paths to prolong the lifespan of its wheels. Then, in 2017, JPL engineers uploaded new software to Curiosity that uses an algorithm to alter each wheel's speed to reduce pressure from the rocks beneath its grousers, or treads.