The analysis is all part of the rover's mission to discover if Mars was ever capable of sustaining life, even life as small as microbes.

Curiosity, which carries 17 cameras and 10 scientific instruments, already has had good luck.

The soil analysis comes on the heels of NASA's announcement in late September that the rover had found evidence of on the surface of Mars.

With the discovery of water, one of the key elements needed to support life, the rover is now looking for other necessary elements, such as carbon in soil or rock fragments.

Curiosity's first real soil work showed NASA scientists that Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii.