The Mars Science Laboratory is getting some pretty awesome accessories. The main mission of this lander is to "follow the water" and look for life, so the instruments are aligned towards that goal.
The photo above shows the rover in its current state at the build site (Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena). Although that room may look like a pretty version of a mechanics workshop, it's actually a $100 million clean room. Everything inside is sterilized and completely devoid of contaminants, both inert and biological. Not a spec of dust or a single bacterium will come into contact with this rover until it hits Mars.
Technicians are installing and testing the various science instruments that will perform their tasks many millions of miles from home:
1) Weight is everything on a mission like this, but the Sample Analyzer on Mars (SAM) is so important it takes up more than half the science payload mass. It can test the air and soil for carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen - the building blocks of life. It contains cutting-edge mass and laser spectrometers and a gas chromatograph - a sophisticated laboratory squeezed into a few square feet.
2) The ChemCam is the coolest thing on the MSL. It's a powerful laser that can vaporize rocks from 23 feet away, while the camera zooms in and captures the light coming from the superheated plasma emitted. This data can be analyzed on-board and at home to determine if the rock has scientific merit based on its chemical composition.
3) The MastCam is a pair of cameras that can capture Mars in full 3D with exceptional clarity and detail - greater than the retinas in our eyes. It's also excellent at capturing color and texture. Oh, and it can take stereo video in Hi Def to capture transient events like dust devils.
4) The Radiation Assessment Detector can measure the level of radiation so see how harmful it would be for us humans, because eventually, humans will be going to Mars.
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