As part of a series of that have been running over the past several days, the robotic rover on Tuesday tested its wheels to make sure it's ready for its first drive.

All six of Curiosity's wheels move and the four corner wheels all are able to steer, according to Michael Watkins, a mission systems manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Watkins said with this successful "wheel wiggle" test complete, NASA is ready for the rover's first drive.

On Tuesday night, NASA engineers will send the rover commands to make its first moves across the Martian surface on Wednesday.

It won't be a long trek. The rover is expected to drive forward about 3 meters, turn around and drive back nearly as far.

"The Curiosity rover and the ops team continue to hit home runs here," Watkins said. "We've gotten through all of the tests successfully and on schedule... We have aggressive plans this week."