e MSL mission has four scientific goals: Determine the landing site's habitabili

ty including the role of water, the study of the climate and the geology of Mars
. It is also useful preparation for a future manned mission to Mars.
To contribute to these goals, MSL has eight main scientific objectives:[25]
Biological
(1) Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds
(2) Investigate the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitr
ogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur)
(3) Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes
(biosignatures)
Geological and geochemical
(4) Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the
Martian surface and near-surface geological materials
(5) Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils
Planetary process
(6) Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evoluti
on processes
ial response, vehicle orientation, and atmospheric density for the atmospheric e
ntry through the sensible atmosphere down to heat shield separation of the Mars
Science Laboratory entry vehicle.[29] The MEDLI instrumentation suite was instal
led in the heatshield of the MSL entry vehicle. The acquired data will support f
uture Mars missions by providing measured atmospheric data to validate Mars atmo
sphere models and clarify the lander design margins on future Mars missions. MED
LI instrumentation consists of three main subsystems: MEDLI Integrated Sensor Pl
ugs (MISP), Mars Entry Atmospheric Data System (MEADS) a