1. Mar Science Laboratory, Curiosity
Launch
Launch Date: Nov. 25, 2011, 8:21 a.m. MST
Launch Period: Nov. 25 and Dec.18, 2011
Expected Arrival: August 2012
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-541 – ULA Denver (first time used)
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral
Program
NASA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Science: US, Canada, Russia, Spain, Finland
Spacecraft: JPL, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet, others
Atlas V
Launch Vehicle
Planet
Science
Mission
Spacecraft
From NASA quick facts on JPL web site. Use Atlas V for Juno launch 551, because they have not launched a Atlas V 541.
Photos Courtesy of NASA

2. Photos Courtesy of NASA
Viking
(7600 lb)
Valles Marineris
(Mariner Valley)
Mars
141.6 million miles from Sun, 1.5 AU
24.6 hour day, year is ~2 Earth years (687 days), axis tilt ~24 deg
4222 miles in dia; ~½ dia, ~1/10 mass, and ~1/3 the gravity of Earth,
Largest mountain and canyon in solar system
2 moons; Phobos (fear) & Deimos (panic), god of war’s attendants
No planetary magnetic field (weak local fields)
Atmosphere; CO2 95.3%, N2 2.7%, Ar 1.6%, Water 210 ppm; ~0.006 atm
CO2 freezes on the polar ice caps each winter, ~20%
Temperature ranges from -199 deg F to 80 deg F
Winds 70 to 200 mph in storms
Spacecraft That Have Visited the Red Planet
Mariner 4, 6 & 7 (first flyby, ‘65), Mariner 9 (first orbiter, ‘71) Viking I & II (first Lander ’76)
20 year gap in successful US spacecraft – lost: US 1 orbiter; USSR 2 orbiters, 2 landers
Pathfinder, MER (2), Phoenix and 4 recent orbiters, MGS, MO, ESA Express and MRO
Over 20 Spacecraft failed to reach,
orbit or land on Mars
(USSR, US, ESA, Japan)
Olympus Mons
Data NASA web pages, National Geographic book, NASA press kits Rovers
Viking 1976
Photos Courtesy of NASA

3. MSL Mission Goals and Objectives
The mission's 4 goals go beyond “follow the water”:
To determine if life could have ever arisen on Mars
characterize the climate of Mars
characterize the geology of Mars, and
prepare for human exploration
Mars Science Laboratory has 8 scientific objectives:
Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds or understanding of the environmental conditions that remove organics.
Inventory the chemical building blocks of life as we know it
Identify features that may represent the effects of metabolism or biosignatures.
Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the surface
Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils.
Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes.
Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of H2O and CO2.
Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation
Just a cool picture of water ice
from Mars Express (ESA) 70 deg N
Source JPL/NASA web pages.
Geology lab, ChemCam, rock-vaporizing laser and lots of cameras
Photos Courtesy of NASA

4. Photos Courtesy of NASA
MSL Mars Descent Imager (MARDI):
1600x1200 pixel,
720p video
ChemCam
first planetary science Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS)
Remote Micro-Imager (RMI).
Alpha Particle
X-ray Spectrometer
Mars Hand Lens Imager
Chemistry &
Mineralogy
Sample
Analysis at Mars
Radiation Assessment
Detector supports manned
missions
Rover Environmental
Monitoring Station
Dynamic
Albedo of Neutrons
MSL EDL Instrument
(MEDLI) Suite for the Mars
Atmosphere and heat shield
RTGs
Science instruments: NASA JPL
Photos Courtesy of NASA

5. Photos Courtesy of NASA
Mission & Landing
9 mo cruise to Mars, land Aug 2012
1 year on Mars, 23 Earth months
Sky Crane soft landing- first usage
Curiosity Land within Gale Crater (96 mi dia)
5 x more accurate landing (15 x 12 mi)
MER landing site was ~50 x 7 miles
Crater very low-elevation, water runs downhill
Layers of rock preserve environment record
Mountain higher than Mount Rainier, 3 mi
Walter Gale, Australian Banker, observed Mars & Comets N
Gale
Crater
Mars Odyssey Orbiter N
Source JPL/NASA web pages.
Phoenix
Curiosity
Photos Courtesy of NASA

6. Photos Courtesy of NASA
O deg
18O deg W
18O deg E
7O deg N
Looking South
O deg
Gale Crater
4.5º S, 137.4º E
From data in various NASA press releases and fact sheets brought to a common coordinated system. i.e Viking NASA fact sheet had 180 deg as zero.
7O deg S
Helpful Facts: mi dia, 36.8 mi/deg.
Phoenix landed further north than “Anchorage AK”
Opportunity was an interplanetary “hole in one” after 283 million miles landed in a 72 ft crater
Photos Courtesy of NASA

7. Photos Courtesy of NASA
Spacecraft
Spacecraft total Mass 7500 lb
Curiosity 1875 lb, 10’ long, 9’ wide and 7’ tall
About 5 times mass of Opportunity (MER)
Power - radioisotope thermoelectric generators RTGs
Plutonium 238, Used on Viking (Viking I lasted 6 yrs)
2.5 kWh/day vs MER Solar Panels >1 kWh/day
watts
Largest Mars mission Aeroshell
Rocker-bogie suspension
Can handle 45 deg tilt, protected to 30 deg
660 ft/day (1 mi/8 days) top speed 1.5 in/sec
MER top speed 2 in/sec
Computers
256 MB of DRAM and 2 GB of flash memory
MER 128 MB of DRAM, and 256 MB of flash memory
Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for navigation
860 lb hydrazine descent propulsion
Descent stage, 8 – 68 lbf thrusters
Sky Crane, 8 – 700 lbf thrusters
842 lb
1875 lb
2690 lb
1323 lb
770 lb
Sources JPL/NASA web pages, Aerojet Press release
Spacecraft weights
Computer
Speed
NASA Fact Sheet MSL and MER landing press kit
MER NASA Press Kit Jan 2004
Photos Courtesy of NASA

8. Photos Courtesy of NASA
NASA JPL
Photos Courtesy of NASA

9. Photos Courtesy of NASA