Posted: Thu, Sep 13, 2012, 8:59 AM ET (1259 GMT)

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is wrapping up tests of its robotic arm and will soon begin driving to perform its first detailed examination of a Martian rock. Curiosity has been parked since September 5 as engineers check out the arm and the instruments mounted on it. With those tests nearly complete, Curiosity will begin driving again in the direction of a site called Glenelg several hundred meters away, where three different landforms meet. In addition, the rover team will look for a rock en route to Glenelg to perform the first detailed examination by the rover's instruments.