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Mars Mission Blasts Off

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

November 26, 2011

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the "back shell powered descent vehicle" configuration, containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curio...
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At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the "back shell powered descent vehicle" configuration, containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is being placed on the spacecraft's heat shield.
Connecting Curiosity's Heat Shield and Back Shell
This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the great diversity of grains found on the surface of a Martian rock.
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This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the great diversity of grains found on the surface of a Martian rock.
Texture of 'Gillespie Lake' Rock (Unannotated)
This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover covers an area in "Bridger Basin" that includes the locations where the rover drilled a target called "Big Sky" on the missio...
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This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover covers an area in "Bridger Basin" that includes the locations where the rover drilled a target called "Big Sky" on the mission's Sol 1119 (Sept. 29, 2015) and a target called "Greenhorn" on Sol 1137 (Oct. 18, 2015).
'Big Sky' and 'Greenhorn' Drilling Area on Mount Sharp
This view southeastward from Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) shows terrain judged difficult for traversing between the rover and an outcrop in the middle distance where a pale rock unit meets a d...
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This May 10, 2015, view from Curiosity's Mastcam shows terrain judged difficult for traversing between the rover and an outcrop in the middle distance where a pale rock unit meets a darker rock unit above it. The rover team decided not to approach this outcrop and identified an alternative.
Unfavorable Terrain for Crossing Near 'Logan Pass'
This computer-generated view based on multiple orbital observations shows Mars' Gale crater as if seen from an aircraft northwest of the crater.
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This computer-generated view based on multiple orbital observations shows Mars' Gale crater as if seen from an aircraft northwest of the crater.
Oblique view of Gale Crater from the Northwest
This computer-generated view depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight, with an area including Gale Crater beginning to catch morning light.
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This computer-generated view depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight, with an area including Gale Crater beginning to catch morning light.
Daybreak at Gale Crater
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team in the MSL Mission Support Area react after learning the Curiosity rover has landed safely on Mars and images start coming in at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory...
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The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team in the MSL Mission Support Area react after learning the the Curiosity rove has landed safely on Mars and images start coming in at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Mars, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 in Pasadena, Calif. The MSL Rover named Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes.
The Mars Science Laboratory Team
This image, taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, shows the transition between the "Murray Formation," in which layers are poorly expressed and difficult to tra...
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This color image shows the transition between the "Murray Formation," and the hematite ridge, which is made up of continuous layers that can be traced laterally for hundreds of meters. Between both areas is a dark band of material, which are the dunes that divide Murray Ridge and Hematite Ridge.
Geological Transition
This view combines several frames taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, looking into a valley to the west from the eastern side of a dune at the eastern end of the valley.
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This view combines several frames taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, looking into a valley to the west from the eastern side of a dune at the eastern end of the valley.
Martian Valley May Be Curiosity's Route (White-Balanced)
The cruise stage will have support ribs, solar arrays, a radiator, and an adapter for connecting the vehicle to the rockets that will launch it from Earth.
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Cruise primary structure
Cruise primary structure
Download a PDF of Curiosity's Pre-Landing Lithograph.
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Curiosity's Pre-Landing Lithograph
Curiosity's Pre-Landing Lithograph
Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth -- and a ready analog for Mars' rugged, arid terrain.
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Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth -- and a ready analog for Mars' rugged, arid terrain.
Atacama Landscape
The rock "Ithaca" shown here, with a rougher lower texture and smoother texture on top, appears to be a piece of the local sedimentary bedrock protruding from the surrounding soil in Gale Crater.
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The rock "Ithaca" shown here, with a rougher lower texture and smoother texture on top, appears to be a piece of the local sedimentary bedrock protruding from the surrounding soil in Gale Crater.
Target Rock 'Ithaca' in Gale Crater, Mars, Unannotated
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the "Bradbury Landing" location where it landed in August 2012 to the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop where it drilled into the lowest pa...
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This is a gray base map of the skirt of Mount Sharp. In red is the rover's path since landing. Blue stars indication the major stops, Bradbury Landing, Darwin, Cooperstown, Kimberley and Pahrump Hills.
Curiosity Mars Rover's Route from Landing to 'Pahrump Hills'
How does a rover keep driving on a planet with no gas stations? Shonte Tucker, Sabah Bux and Rob Manning power us through the ways Mars rovers keep going.
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How does a rover keep driving on a planet with no gas stations? Shonte Tucker, Sabah Bux and Rob Manning power us through the ways Mars rovers keep going.
The Power of the Rovers
The dark, smooth-surfaced rock at the center of this Oct. 30, 2016, image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover was examined with laser pulses and confirmed to be an iron-ni...
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The dark, smooth-surfaced rock at the center of this Oct. 30, 2016, image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover was examined with laser pulses and confirmed to be an iron-nickel meteorite. It is about the size of a golf ball.
Curiosity Rover Finds and Examines a Meteorite on Mars
The straight lines in Curiosity's zigzag track marks are Morse code for JPL, which is short for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built and the mission is ma...
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The straight lines in Curiosity's zigzag track marks are Morse code for JPL, which is short for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built and the mission is managed.
Reading the Rover's Tracks
At Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers guide an overhead crane as it lifts the Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V in the Vertical Integ...
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At Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers guide an overhead crane as it lifts the Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V in the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF).
Centaur at Pad 41
This mosaic shows various scenes captured from a location called "Housedon Hill" by the ChemCam instrument aboard NASA's Curiosity Mars rover between September 9 and October 23, 2020 (Sols 2878 and...
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This mosaic shows various scenes captured from a location called "Housedon Hill" by the ChemCam instrument aboard NASA's Curiosity Mars rover between September 9 and October 23, 2020 (Sols 2878 and 2921).
ChemCam's "Housedon Hill" Panorama
This is a view of the third (left) and fourth (right) trenches made by the 1.6-inch-wide (4-centimeter-wide) scoop on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in October 2012.
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This is a view of the third (left) and fourth (right) trenches made by the 1.6-inch-wide (4-centimeter-wide) scoop on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in October 2012.
Scoop Marks in the Sand at 'Rocknest' (Unannotated)
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used a new technique, with added autonomy for the rover, in placement of the tool-bearing turret on its robotic arm during the 399th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used a new technique, with added autonomy for the rover, in placement of the tool-bearing turret on its robotic arm during the 399th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Curiosity Uses X-ray Instrument's Data for Proximity Placement
This set of images shows the movement of the rear right wheel of NASA's Curiosity as rover drivers turned the wheels in place at the landing site on Mars.
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This set of images shows the movement of the rear right wheel of NASA's Curiosity as rover drivers turned the wheels in place at the landing site on Mars.
Wiggle in the Gravel
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the "Bradbury Landing" location where it landed in August 2012 (the start of the line in upper right) to a major waypoint called ...
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the "Bradbury Landing" location where it landed in August 2012 (the start of the line in upper right) to a major waypoint called "the Kimberley."
Curiosity Mars Rover's Route from Landing to 'The Kimberley' Waypoint
This pair of images shows effects of one Martian day of wind blowing sand underneath NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on a non-driving day for the rover. Each image was taken just after sundown by the r...
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This pair of images shows effects of one Martian day of wind blowing sand underneath NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on a non-driving day for the rover. Each image was taken just after sundown by the rover's Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). The area of ground shown spans about 3 feet left-to-right.
Sand Moving Under Curiosity, One Day to Next
This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Big Sky" site, where its drill collected the mission's fifth taste of Mount Sharp. It was taken on Oct. 6, 2015, PDT.
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This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the "Big Sky" site, where its drill collected the mission's fifth taste of Mount Sharp. It was taken on Oct. 6, 2015, PDT.
Curiosity Self-Portrait at 'Big Sky' Drilling Site

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