Earth from Mars. Curiosity rover image of Earth (bright dot at centre left) in the Martian night sky. The Moon can be seen just below Earth. Curiosity landed on Mars on 6th August 2012 on a mission to determine if Mars is, or was ever, able to support microbial life. Image obtained by Curiosity's Mast Camera on 31st January 2014 when the distance between Mars and Earth was approximately 160 million kilometres.