Sub-surface soil samples will be analysed by an onboard laboratory.

BBC: Mars robots begin test campaign

And in case you missed the latest robotic resident arriving on Mars you can watch the action replay and view the very first pictures beamed back from the surface of the Red Planet on Nasa's Mars Science Laboratory mission homepage.

BBC: Webscape: Mission to Mars

"We effectively use it to rinse our mouth three times and then spit out, " explained Daniel Limonadi, the Curiosity surface sampling phase lead at the US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

BBC: Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover to scoop sand sample

The severity of the laboratory test was equivalent to an oblique collision with the rocky surface of the Earth - a comet coming in at an angle of less than 25 degrees from the horizon, rather than head on (perpendicular to the Earth's surface).

BBC: Comets could have seeded life on Earth

This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth.

ENGADGET: NASA's Curiosity rover receives long-distance OTA update, 'brain transplant' on Mars

Based on the Phoenix lander, the craft is tasked with giving us a peek beneath the planet's surface, armed with tools that include a geodetic instrument from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will be used to calculate Mars' rotation axis, a seismic wave sensor and a subsurface heat probe, to measure the planet's internal temperature.

ENGADGET: NASA InSight tapped for Mars drilling mission in 2016

On Sunday, the Mars Science Laboratory executed a series of maneuvers designed to slow its approach to the Mars surface.

CNN: Curiosity opening Martian frontier?