[meteorite-list] Mars Science Laboratory Meets its Match in Florida

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2011 13:24:30 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201110062024.p96KOUip007549_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-313

Mars Science Laboratory Meets its Match in Florida
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
October 05, 2011

In preparation for launch later this year, the "back shell powered
descent vehicle" configuration containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory
rover, Curiosity, has been placed on the spacecraft's heat shield.

The matchup was performed by technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
in Florida.

The heat shield and the spacecraft's back shell form an aeroshell that
encapsulates and protects the rover from the intense heat it will
experience during the final leg of the trip to Mars-the friction-filled
descent through the Martian atmosphere.

The mission is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station during the period from Nov. 25 to Dec. 18. Arrival at Gale
Crater on Mars is expected in August 2012.

After arrival, the Curiosity rover will investigate whether the landing
region has had environmental conditions favorable for supporting
microbial life and favorable for preserving clues about whether life
existed.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for
the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

More information about Curiosity is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl
and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

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

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

2011-313
Received on Thu 06 Oct 2011 04:24:30 PM PDT