MSL - Mars Science Laboratory

The Curiosity rover landed at Gale Crater on August 5, 2012. It is designed to search for and assess past or present habitable environments, i.e., those capable of supporting microbial life. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's "habitability." The Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet.

Curiosity carries the biggest, most advanced suite of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the martian surface. The rover has the capability to analyze dozens of samples scooped from the soil, drilled from rocks, or ingested from the atmosphere. The record of the planet's climate and geology is essentially "written in the rocks and soil" in their formation, structure, and chemical composition, including the chemical building blocks of life (e.g., forms of carbon). Mount Sharp within Gale Crater is thought to contain a sedimentary rock record that has captured major events in the environmental history of Mars.

Links

• Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Website

People

Luther Beegle Planetary Science Deputy Manager Read More >>		Joel Hurowitz Geophysics & Planetary Geosciences Read More >>
Eric De Jong Geophysics & Planetary Geosciences Read More >>		Alberto Behar Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology Read More >>
Michael A. Mischna Earth and Planetary Atmospheres Group Supervisor Read More >>		Joy Crisp Planetary Science MSL Deputy Project Scientist Read More >>
Ashwin R. Vasavada Geophysics & Planetary Geosciences MSL Deputy Project Scientist Read More >>		Robert C. Anderson Geophysics & Planetary Geosciences Group Supervisor Read More >>
Diana Blaney Asteroids, Comets & Satellites MER Deputy Project Scientist Read More >>		Manuel de la Torre Juarez Earth and Planetary Atmospheres Read More >>
David Kass Earth and Planetary Atmospheres Read More >>		Timothy Parker Geophysics & Planetary Geosciences Read More >>
Chris Webster Directorate Science Affiliates Manager, Planetary Sciences Instruments Office Read More >>