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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Orbiter Images NASA's Martian Landscape Additions

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster/D.C. Agle 818-354-6278/818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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

News release: 2012-234 August 7, 2012

Orbiter Images NASA's Martian Landscape Additions

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-234&cid=release_2012-234

PASADENA, Calif. – Late Monday night, an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the Curiosity
rover and the components that helped it survive its seven-minute ordeal from space to its present
location in Mars' Gale Crater.

"This latest image is another demonstration of the invaluable assistance the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter team, and its sister team with the Mars Odyssey orbiter, have provided the Curiosity rover
during our early days on the Red Planet," said Mike Watkins, mission manager for the Mars Science
Laboratory mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The image not only
satisfies our curiosity, it can provide important information on how these vital components performed
during entry, descent and landing, and exactly locate the rover's touchdown site within Gale Crater."

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's image of Curiosity and its parachute, back shell, heat shield and
descent stage can be found at: http://go.nasa.gov/OXjKz6 .

The Curiosity rover is in the center of the image. To the right, approximately 4,900 feet (1,500
meters) away, lies the heat shield, which protected the rover from 3,800-degree-Fahrenheit (about
2,100 degrees Celsius) temperatures encountered during its fiery descent. On the lower left, about
2,020 feet (615 meters) away, are the parachute and back shell. The parachute has a constructed
diameter of 71 feet (almost 21.5 meters) and an inflated diameter of 51 feet (nearly 16 meters). The
back shell remains connected to the chute via 80 suspension lines that are 165 feet (50 meters) long.
To the upper-left, approximately 2,100 feet (650 meters) away from the rover, is a discoloration of
the Mars surface consistent with what would have resulted when the rocket-powered Sky Crane
impacted the surface.

"This is the first of what I imagine will be many portraits HiRISE will be taking of Curiosity on the
surface of Mars," said Sarah Milkovich, HiRISE investigation scientist at JPL. "The image was taken
Monday at about 10:30 p.m. Pacific when MRO was at an altitude of about 186 miles (300
kilometers), and we are getting resolution on the surface down to 1.3 feet (39 centimeters) per pixel."

As more of Curiosity's instruments are coming online, more "first images" are being downlinked
from the rover's 17 cameras. The latest to come in is from the Mars Hand Lens Imager or MAHLI.
The focusable color camera is located on the tool-bearing turret at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm.
Researchers will use it for magnified, close-up views of rocks and soils and also for wider scenes of
the ground, the landscape or even the rover.

"It is great to have our first MAHLI image under our belt," said Ken Edgett, principal investigator for
MAHLI from Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "We tested the focus mechanism and
imager and the whole system is looking good. We are looking forward to getting up close and
personal with Mars."

The first MAHLI image, taken with the dust-coated clear plastic cover over the lens, is available at:
http://go.nasa.gov/Qb3l6U .

The team plans for Curiosity checkout Tuesday include raising the rover's mast and continued testing
of the high-gain antenna.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on
the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools, such as a laser-firing instrument for
checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance, are the first of their kind on Mars. Curiosity
will use a drill and scoop, which is located at the end of its robotic arm, to gather soil and powdered
samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into the rover's analytical
laboratory instruments.

To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or
Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site places the rover within driving distance of layers of the
crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the
lower layers, indicating a wet history.

HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars
Exploration Rover projects are managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. JPL is a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the
orbiter.

For more information on NASA's Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl . For more about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro . Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:
http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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Monday, August 6, 2012

NASA's Curiosity Rover Caught in the Act of Landing

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster / DC Agle 8180-354-6278 / 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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

News release: 2012-232 August 6, 2012

NASA's Curiosity Rover Caught in the Act of Landing

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-232&cid=release_2012-232

PASADENA, Calif. – An image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the Curiosity rover still connected to
its 51-foot-wide (almost 16 meter) parachute as it descended towards its landing site at Gale Crater.

"If HiRISE took the image one second before or one second after, we probably would be looking at
an empty Martian landscape," said Sarah Milkovich, HiRISE investigation scientist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "When you consider that we have been working on this
sequence since March and had to upload commands to the spacecraft about 72 hours prior to the
image being taken, you begin to realize how challenging this picture was to obtain."

The image of Curiosity on its parachute can be found at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia15978b.html

The image was taken while MRO was 211 miles (340 kilometers) away from the parachuting rover.
Curiosity and its rocket-propelled backpack, contained within the conical-shaped back shell, had yet
to be deployed. At the time, Curiosity was about two miles (three kilometers) above the Martian
surface.

"Guess you could consider us the closest thing to paparazzi on Mars," said Milkovich. "We definitely
caught NASA's newest celebrity in the act."

Curiosity, NASA's latest contribution to the Martian landscape, landed at 10:32 p.m. Aug. 5, PDT,
(1:32 on Aug. 6, EDT) near the foot of a mountain three miles tall inside Gale Crater, 96 miles in
diameter.

In other Curiosity news, one part of the rover team at the JPL continues to analyze the data from last
night's landing while another continues to prepare the one-ton mobile laboratory for its future
explorations of Gale Crater. One key assignment given to Curiosity for its first full day on Mars is to
raise its high-gain antenna. Using this antenna will increase the data rate at which the rover can
communicate directly with Earth. The mission will use relays to orbiters as the primary method for
sending data home, because that method is much more energy-efficient for the rover.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science 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. Later in the
mission, the rover 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.

To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or
Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site places the rover within driving distance to layers of the
crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the
lower layers, indicating a wet history.

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover
was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

For more information on the mission, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl ,
http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at
http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity

HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and the
Mars Exploration Rover Project are managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,
for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter.

For more about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, see http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

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NASA's New Mars Rover Sends Higher-Resolution Image

Sunday, August 5, 2012

NASA Lands Car-Size Rover Beside Martian Mountain

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster / D.C. Agle 818-354-6278 / 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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

NEWS RELEASE: 2012-230 Aug. 5, 2012

NASA Lands Car-Size Rover Beside Martian Mountain

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120805c.html

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's most advanced Mars rover Curiosity has landed on the Red Planet. The one-ton rover, hanging by ropes from a rocket backpack, touched down onto Mars Sunday to end a 36-week flight and begin a two-year investigation.

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft that carried Curiosity succeeded in every step of the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars, including the final severing of the bridle cords and flyaway maneuver of the rocket backpack.

"Today, the wheels of Curiosity have begun to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars. Curiosity, the most sophisticated rover ever built, is now on the surface of the Red Planet, where it will seek to answer age-old questions about whether life ever existed on Mars -- or if the planet can sustain life in the future," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "This is an amazing achievement, made possible by a team of scientists and engineers from around the world and led by the extraordinary men and women of NASA and our Jet Propulsion Laboratory. President Obama has laid out a bold vision for sending humans to Mars in the mid-2030's, and today's landing marks a significant step toward achieving this goal."

Curiosity landed at 10:32 p.m. Aug. 5, PDT, (1:32 a.m. EDT Aug. 6) near the foot of a mountain three miles tall and 96 miles in diameter inside Gale Crater. During a nearly two-year prime mission, the rover will investigate whether the region ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life.

"The Seven Minutes of Terror has turned into the Seven Minutes of Triumph," said NASA Associate Administrator for Science John Grunsfeld. "My immense joy in the success of this mission is matched only by overwhelming pride I feel for the women and men of the mission's team."

Curiosity returned its first view of Mars, a wide-angle scene of rocky ground near the front of the rover. More images are anticipated in the next several days as the mission blends observations of the landing site with activities to configure the rover for work and check the performance of its instruments and mechanisms.

"Our Curiosity is talking to us from the surface of Mars," said MSL Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The landing takes us past the most hazardous moments for this project, and begins a new and exciting mission to pursue its scientific objectives."

Confirmation of Curiosity's successful landing came in communications relayed by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter and received by the Canberra, Australia, antenna station of NASA's Deep Space Network.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science 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 elemental composition of rocks from a distance. The rover 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.

To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site places the rover within driving distance of layers of the crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history.

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information on the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity And http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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Saturday, August 4, 2012

Explore A Room With a Mars View

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Feature August 4, 2012

Explore A Room With a Mars View

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-228&cid=release_2012-228

On the evening of Sunday, Aug. 5, the focal point of Martian activity here on Earth will be located in the Mission Support Area in Building 230 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. From this facility will come news of the progress of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover's landing. Visit an interactive page at http://bit.ly/mslmsa to explore the room a bit further and get a who's who of team members - as well as the history of one dry-roasted room essential.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and its Curiosity rover are a project of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Curiosity was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. 

For information about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission and its Curiosity rover, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

You can follow the mission on Facebook and on Twitter at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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Mars Tugging on Approaching NASA Rover Curiosity

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster/D.C. Agle 818-354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown/Steve Cole 202-358-1726/202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / Stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2012-227 Aug. 4, 2012

Mars Tugging on Approaching NASA Rover Curiosity

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-227&cid=release_2012-227

PASADENA, Calif. – The gravitational tug of Mars is now pulling NASA's car-size geochemistry
laboratory, Curiosity, in for a suspenseful landing in less than 40 hours.

"After flying more than eight months and 350 million miles since launch, the Mars Science
Laboratory spacecraft is now right on target to fly through the eye of the needle that is our target at
the top of the Mars atmosphere," said Mission Manager Arthur Amador of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The spacecraft is healthy and on course for delivering the mission's Curiosity rover close to a Martian
mountain at 10:31 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5 PDT (1:31 a.m. Monday, Aug. 6 EDT). That's the time a
signal confirming safe landing could reach Earth, give or take about a minute for the spacecraft's
adjustments to sense changeable atmospheric conditions.

The only way a safe-landing confirmation can arrive during that first opportunity is via a relay by
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. Curiosity will not be communicating directly with Earth as it lands,
because Earth will set beneath the Martian horizon from Curiosity's perspective about two minutes
before the landing.

"We are expecting Odyssey to relay good news," said Steve Sell of the JPL engineering team that
developed and tested the mission's complicated "sky crane" landing system. "That moment has been
more than eight years in the making."

A dust storm in southern Mars being monitored by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter appears to
be dissipating. "Mars is cooperating by providing good weather for landing," said JPL's Ashwin
Vasavada, deputy project scientist for Curiosity.

Curiosity was approaching Mars at about 8,000 mph (about 3,600 meters per second) Saturday
morning. By the time the spacecraft hits the top of Mars' atmosphere, about seven minutes before
touchdown, gravity will accelerate it to about 13,200 mph (5,900 meters per second).

NASA plans to use Curiosity to investigate whether the study area has ever offered environmental
conditions favorable for microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life.

"In the first few weeks after landing, we will be ramping up science activities gradually as we
complete a series of checkouts and we gain practice at operating this complex robot in Martian
conditions," said JPL's Richard Cook, deputy project manager for Curiosity.

The first Mars pictures expected from Curiosity are reduced-resolution fisheye black-and-white
images received either in the first few minutes after touchdown or more than two hours later. Higher
resolution and color images from other cameras could come later in the first week. Plans call for
Curiosity to deploy a directional antenna on the first day after landing and raise the camera mast on
the second day.

The big hurdle is landing. Under some possible scenarios, Curiosity could land safely, but temporary
communication difficulties could delay for hours or even days any confirmation that the rover has
survived landing.

The prime mission lasts a full Martian year, which is nearly two Earth years. During that period,
researchers plan to drive Curiosity partway up a mountain informally called Mount Sharp.
Observations from orbit have identified exposures there of clay and sulfate minerals that formed in
wet environments.

The Mars Science Laboratory is a project of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The mission is
managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Its rover,
Curiosity, was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. Information about the mission and about
ways to participate in challenges of the landing, including a new video game, is available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

You can follow the mission on Facebook and on Twitter at:
http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

For more information about NASA programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

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Friday, August 3, 2012

What to Expect When Curiosity Starts Snapping Pictures

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

News release: 2012-226 Aug. 3, 2012

What to Expect When Curiosity Starts Snapping Pictures

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-226&cid=release_2012-226

If a group of tourists piled out of a transport vehicle onto the surface of Mars, they'd no
doubt start snapping pictures wildly. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to touch down on the
Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (early morning EDT), will take a more careful
approach to capturing its first scenic views.

The car-size rover's very first images will come from the one-megapixel Hazard-
Avoidance cameras (Hazcams) attached to the body of the rover. Once engineers have
determined that it is safe to deploy the rover's Remote Sensing Mast and its high-tech
cameras, a process that may take several days, Curiosity will begin to survey its exotic
surroundings.

"A set of low-resolution gray scale Hazcam images will be acquired within minutes of
landing on the surface," said Justin Maki of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. "Once all of the critical systems have been checked out by the
engineering team and the mast is deployed, the rover will image the landing site with
higher-resolution cameras."

Maki led the development of Curiosity's 12 engineering cameras -- eight Hazcams at the
front and back of the rover, and four Navigation cameras (Navcams) at the top of the
rover's "look-out" mast. All the engineering cameras acquire black-and-white pictures
from left and right stereo "eyes," which are merged to provide three-dimensional
information. Half of the cameras are backups, meaning there's one set for each of the
rover's A- and B-side redundant computers.

The very first images are likely to arrive more than two hours after landing, due to the
timing of NASA's signal-relaying Odyssey orbiter. They will be captured with the left
and right Hazcams at the back and front of the rover, and they will not yet be full-
resolution (the two images arriving on Earth first are "thumbnail" copies, which are 64 by
64 pixels in size). The Hazcams are equipped with very wide-angle, fisheye lenses,
initially capped with clear dust covers. The covers are designed to protect the cameras
from dust that may be kicked up during landing; they are clear just in case they don't pop
off as expected.

These first views will give engineers a good idea of what surrounds Curiosity, as well as
its location and tilt. "Ensuring that the rover is on stable ground is important before
raising the rover's mast," said Mission Manager Jennifer Trosper at JPL. "We are using
an entirely new landing system on this mission, so we are proceeding with caution."

Color pictures from the rover's Mars Descent Imager, or MARDI, acquired as the rover
descends to the Martian surface, will help pinpoint the rover's location. Initial images
from MARDI are expected to be released Aug. 6, the day after landing. These will also
be in the form of thumbnails (in the case of the science cameras, thumbnails can vary in
size, with the largest being 192 pixels wide by 144 pixels high). One full-resolution
image may also be returned at this time.

Additional color views of the planet's surface are expected the morning of Aug. 7 from
the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, one of five devices on the rover's Inspector
Gadget-like arm. The camera is designed to take close-up pictures of rocks and soil, but
can also take images out to the horizon. When Curiosity lands and its arm is still stowed,
the instrument will be pointed to the side, allowing it to capture an initial color view of
the Gale Crater area.

Once Curiosity's mast is standing tall, the Navcams will begin taking one-megapixel
stereo pictures 360 degrees around the rover as well as images of the rover deck. These
cameras have medium-angle, 45-degree fields of views and could resolve the equivalent
of a golf ball lying 82 feet (25 meters) away. They are designed to survey the landscape
fairly quickly, and, not only can they look all around but also up and down. Navigation
camera pictures are expected to begin arriving on Earth about three days after landing if
the mast is deployed on schedule.

Like the Hazcams, Navcam images are used to obtain three-dimensional information
about the Martian terrain. Together, they help the scientists and engineers make decisions
about where and how to drive the rover and which rocks to examine with instruments that
identify chemical ingredients. "A large part of the surface mission is conducted using the
images returned from the cameras," said Maki.

Also, about three days after landing, the narrower field-of-view Mast Cameras
(Mastcams) are expected to start snapping their first shots. These two-megapixel color
cameras will reveal the rover's new home in exquisite detail. Small thumbnail versions of
the pictures will be sent down first with an initial high-resolution panorama expected
more than a week later.

The camera of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument will provide a
telescopic view of targets at a distance.

As the mission progresses, the entire suite of cameras and science instruments will work
together to hunt for clues to the mystery of Mars and help answer the long-standing
puzzle of whether our next-door-neighbor planet has ever offered environmental
conditions favorable for microbial life.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and its Curiosity rover are a project of NASA's
Science Mission Directorate. The mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Curiosity was designed, developed and assembled at
JPL.

To view Curiosity's latest images, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/ and
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html . Raw
images will appear when available at mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/raw .

For information about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission and its Curiosity rover,
visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ . You can follow the
mission on Facebook and on Twitter at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and
http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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