[meteorite-list] NASA's Next Mars Rover Nears Completion

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 09:10:21 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201104071610.p37GALMn016272_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-108

NASA's Next Mars Rover Nears Completion
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 06, 2011

Assembly and testing of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is far
enough along that the mission's rover, Curiosity, looks very much as it
will when it is investigating Mars.

Testing continues this month at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., on the rover and other components of the spacecraft
that will deliver Curiosity to Mars. In May and June, the spacecraft
will be shipped to NASA Kennedy Space Center, Fla., where preparations
will continue for launch in the period between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011.

The mission will use Curiosity to study one of the most intriguing
places on Mars -- still to be selected from among four finalist
landing-site candidates. It will study whether a selected area of Mars
has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life and
for preserving evidence about whether Martian life has existed.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for the NASA Science Mission
Directorate, Washington. For more information about the mission, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/msl.

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

2011-108
Received on Thu 07 Apr 2011 12:10:21 PM PDT