14 DAY TRIAL // Curiosity, despite some setbacks, is making history again with its analysis of rock samples from Mars. Its internal laboratories showed that, at one point, conditions on Mars, at the very spot it's sitting at in Yellowknife Bay, were perfect for life, the type of life that thrives on Earth.
The water was pure, temperatures were just right and so on. But Curiosity is far from done, much more interesting would be traces of organic material or other signs that life could have inhabited our neighboring planet.
Unfortunately, there won't be much science to be done for a while, while the rover will spend more time analyzing its immediate surroundings, it won't start towards its ultimate goal at the base of Mount Sharp for at least a couple of months.
The delay has to do with problems encountered by the rover, but also with the natural motion of the planets. For much of April, the NASA ground team won't be able to communicate with the rover.
While the rover can plan its own path and makes decisions on its own, it is still heavily guided by NASA, a project this expensive and important can't be left to its own devices.
The fact that Curiosity's main computer suffered a memory malfunction doesn't help, the team is still trying to figure out what went wrong.