Nov 26, 2011

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 george h diller@nasa gov

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: 11-397

NASA LAUNCHES MOST CAPABLE AND ROBUST ROVER TO EXPLORE MARS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a m EST

"We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said "MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we've never been "

The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on Aug 6, 2012 During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life

"The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our trajectory, and we're on our way to Mars," said MSL Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif "The spacecraft is in communication, thermally stable and power positive "

The Atlas V initially lofted the spacecraft into Earth orbit and then, with a second burst from the vehicle's upper stage, pushed it out of Earth orbit into a 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) journey to Mars

"Our first trajectory correction maneuver will be in about two weeks," Theisinger said "We'll do instrument checkouts in the next several weeks and continue with thorough preparations for the landing on Mars and operations on the surface "

Curiosity's ambitious science goals are among the mission's many differences from earlier Mars rovers It will use a drill and scoop at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into analytical laboratory instruments inside the rover Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science-instrument payloads on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity Some of the tools are the first of their kind on Mars, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance, and an X-ray diffraction instrument for definitive identification of minerals in powdered samples

To haul and wield its science payload, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity Because of its one-ton mass, Curiosity is too heavy to employ airbags to cushion its landing as previous Mars rovers could Part of the MSL spacecraft is a rocket-powered descent stage that will lower the rover on tethers as the rocket engines control the speed of descent

The mission's landing site offers Curiosity access for driving to layers of the mountain inside Gale Crater Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history

Precision landing maneuvers as the spacecraft flies through the Martian atmosphere before opening its parachute make Gale a safe target for the first time This innovation shrinks the target area to less than one-fourth the size of earlier Mars landing targets Without it, rough terrain at the edges of Curiosity's target would make the site unacceptably hazardous

The innovations for landing a heavier spacecraft with greater precision are steps in technology development for human Mars missions In addition, Curiosity carries an instrument for monitoring the natural radiation environment on Mars, important information for designing human Mars missions that protect astronauts' health

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida managed the launch NASA's Space Network provided space communication services for the launch vehicle NASA's Deep Space Network will provide spacecraft acquisition and mission communication

For more information about the mission, visit:

http://www nasa gov/msl

For more information about the Deep Space Network, visit:

http://deepspace jpl nasa gov/dsn

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/STS_ISS_STATUS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]