Curiosity landed in Gale Crater, which hosts a mound called Mount Sharp. The bedrock in the crater where the rover drilled appears to be located in an ancient network of stream channels, which came down from the crater's rim, NASA said.

Curiosity still has plans to travel to Mount Sharp, where it will slowly climb a mountain analyzing the sedimentary rock to explore its geological history.

"The question is: How many of these different kinds of 'batteries' can we find at Gale Crater? I think that really becomes our mission along with the search for organic compounds," Grotzinger said.