NASA Updates Prelaunch Events for Mars Science Lab.

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA has updated information about the news conferences and other events for the agency's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover launch. Liftoff is scheduled at 7:02 a.m. PST (10:02 a.m. EST) on Saturday, Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

NASA Television's countdown launch commentary begins at 4:30 a.m. PST (7:30 a.m. EST) on Nov. 26. That also is when a NASA blog will begin providing countdown updates at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/launch/launch_blog.html. Originating from Cape Canaveral Hangar AE, the blog is the definitive Internet source for information leading up to liftoff.

Various news conferences and other events are being held at NASA facilities in Cape Canaveral and Houston and will be carried live on NASA TV.  Downlink information, schedule information and streaming video are at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .  The events will also be streamed live on Ustream at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl .

Detailed lists of news briefing times and participants are at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/index.html .

The Curiosity rover has 10 science instruments to search for evidence about whether Mars had environments favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life. The rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release their gasses so its spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. The latest online information on the Mars Science Laboratory mission is at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl .  JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA.

2011-360b

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

Allard Beutel 321-867-2468
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
allard.beutel@nasa.gov

Guy Webster/Priscilla Vega 818-354-6278/354-1357
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / Priscilla.r.vega@jpl.nasa.gov