Oct 21, 2010

Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 dwayne c brown@nasa gov

Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif 818-354-6278 guy webster@jpl nasa gov

RELEASE: 10-264

WATCH CONSTRUCTION OF NASA'S NEW MARS ROVER LIVE ON THE WEB

PASADENA, Calif -- A newly installed webcam is giving the public an opportunity to watch technicians assemble and test the next NASA Mars rover, one of the most technologically challenging interplanetary missions ever designed

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, is in a clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif The webcam, affectionately called "Curiosity Cam," provides the video feed, without audio, from a viewing gallery above the clean room floor The video will be supplemented periodically by live Web chats featuring Curiosity team members answering questions about the rover Currently, work in the clean room begins at 8 a m PDT Monday through Friday

Clean room technicians have been busy adding new avionics and instruments to the rover Beginning Friday, viewers will see technicians carefully add the rover's suspension system and its six wheels On Monday, Oct 25, the rover's 7-foot-long robotic arm will be carefully lifted and attached to the front of the rover

The camera shows a portion of the clean room that is typically active; but the rover, spacecraft components and technicians may move out of view as work shifts to other areas of the room When activity takes place in other testing facilities around JPL, the clean room may be empty The camera also may be turned off periodically for maintenance or due to technical issues

Months of assembly and testing remain before the car-sized rover is ready for launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla The rover and spacecraft components will ship to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida next spring The launch will occur between Nov 25 and Dec 18, 2011 Curiosity will arrive on Mars in August 2012

Curiosity is engineered to drive longer distances over rougher terrain than previous rovers with a science payload 10 times the mass of instruments on NASA's Spirit and Opportunity

The new, large rover will investigate whether the landing region has had environments favorable for supporting microbial life and for preserving evidence about whether life existed on the Red Planet

Continuous live video of rover construction is available at:

http://www ustream tv/channel/nasajpl

and

http://www nasa gov/mission_pages/msl/building_curiosity html

For information and news about Curiosity, visit:

http://www nasa gov/msl

Social media audiences can learn more about the mission on Twitter @MarsCuriosity or on Facebook at:

http://www facebook com/MarsCuriosity

-end-

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