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Timeline of Major Mission Events During Curiosity's Landing

Curiosity's EDL team release a timeline for mission milestones surrounding the landing of the Mars rover.

August 09, 2012

Curiosity's EDL team release a timeline for mission milestones surrounding the landing of the Mars rover.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This full-resolution self-portrait shows the deck of NASA's Curiosity rover from the rover's Navigation cameras.
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This full-resolution self-portrait shows the deck of NASA's Curiosity rover from the rover's Navigation cameras.
Checking out the Rover Deck in Full Resolution
Scientists and engineers scour the Dumont Dunes area and look for the best spot to practice driving with the Scarecrow rover.
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mars rover, desert, dune, test, Scarecrow - Scientists and engineers are at the top of a giant sand dunes with many ripples, looking over and pointing at a possible location to test the Scarecrow rover.
Mobility Team Scouts Best Spot to Practice Driving
This mosaic view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows textural characteristics and shapes of an outcrop called "Point Lake."
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This mosaic view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows textural characteristics and shapes of an outcrop called "Point Lake."
Puzzling 'Point Lake' Outcrop Revisited (Raw Color)
Mars has two small, asteroid-sized moons named Phobos and Deimos.
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Mars has two small, asteroid-sized moons named Phobos and Deimos.
Phobos in Transit (M-34)
This stereo view from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the downwind side of a dune about 13 feet high within the Bagnold Dunes on Mars. The image appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-...
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This stereo view from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows the downwind side of a dune about 13 feet high within the Bagnold Dunes on Mars. The image appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left. Curiosity's Navcam took the component images on Dec. 17, 2015.
Downwind Side of 'Namib' Sand Dune on Mars, Stereo
This diagram presents some of the processes and clues related to a long-ago lake on Mars that became stratified, with the shallow water richer in oxidants than deeper water was.
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Diagram of Lake Stratification on Mars
Diagram of Lake Stratification on Mars
View of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the afternoon of the first day after landing
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First Color Image of the Martian Landscape Returned from Curiosity
First Color Image of the Martian Landscape Returned from Curiosity
This graph shows the ratio of concentrations of several elements in four different pairs of targets examined by Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instruments on NASA Mars rovers Curiosity an...
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This graph shows the ratio of concentrations of several elements in four different pairs of targets examined by Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instruments on NASA Mars rovers Curiosity and Spirit.
Alteration Effects at Gale and Gusev Craters
Onlookers watch as Scarecrow, a mobility-testing model for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, easily conquers boulders in the Mars Yard testing area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Onlookers watch as Scarecrow, a mobility-testing model for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, easily conquers boulders in the Mars Yard testing area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Shutterbugs Shoot "Scarecrow"
This Sept. 25, 2015, view from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a dark sand dune in the middle distance. The rover's examination of dunes on the way toward higher layers of Moun...
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This Sept. 25, 2015, view from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a dark sand dune in the middle distance. The rover's examination of dunes on the way toward higher layers of Mount Sharp will be the first in-place study of an active sand dune anywhere other than Earth.
Curiosity Rover Will Study Dunes on Route up Mountain
An engineer says goodbye to the Curiosity rover and its powered descent vehicle in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Spacecraft Assembly Facility shortly before the spacecraft was readied for shipmen...
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An engineer says goodbye to the Curiosity rover and its powered descent vehicle in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Spacecraft Assembly Facility shortly before the spacecraft was readied for shipment to Kennedy Space Center for launch.
Fish-eye view of NASA's Curiosity rover and its Powered Descent Vehicle
Wispy clouds float across the Martian sky in this accelerated sequence of early-morning images taken on July 17, 2017, by the Navcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.
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Wispy clouds float across the Martian sky in this accelerated sequence of early-morning images taken on July 17, 2017, by the Navcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.
Clouds Sailing Overhead on Mars, Unenhanced
This oblique, southward-looking view of Gale crater shows the landing site and the mound of layered rocks that NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will investigate.
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This oblique, southward-looking view of Gale crater shows the landing site and the mound of layered rocks that NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will investigate.
Context of Curiosity Landing Site in Gale Crater, with Ellipse
This image shows two engineers aiming the cannon that will fire the tightly packed parachute into the wind tunnel.
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This image shows two engineers aiming the cannon that will fire the tightly packed parachute into the wind tunnel.
No Speed Limit on Mars
On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color sel...
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On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait.
High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has caught the first image of asteroids taken from the surface of Mars.
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First Asteroid Image from the Surface of Mars
First Asteroid Image from the Surface of Mars
This graphic shows the flux of radiation detected by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory on the trip from Earth to Mars from December 2011 to July 2012.
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This graphic shows the flux of radiation detected by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory on the trip from Earth to Mars from December 2011 to July 2012.
Radiation Levels on the Way to Mars
This series of images reconstructs the geology of the region around Mars' Mount Sharp, where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover landed and is now driving. The images, taken on Earth, have been altered for...
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This series of images reconstructs the geology of the region around Mars' Mount Sharp, where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover landed and is now driving. The images, taken on Earth, have been altered for the illustration of how sediments can accumulate in alternating dry periods and wet periods.
Sediment Accumulation in Dry and Wet Periods
This false-color image shows how special filters of the Curiosity Mars rover's Mastcam can help reveal certain minerals in target rocks. It is a composite of images taken Sept. 17, 2017, through th...
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This false-color image shows how special filters of the Curiosity Mars rover's Mastcam can help reveal certain minerals in target rocks. It is a composite of images taken Sept. 17, 2017, through three "science" filters chosen to make hematite, an iron-oxide mineral, stand out as exaggerated purple.
Science-Filters Study of Martian Rock Sees Hematite
Processes in Mars' surface material can explain why particular xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr) isotopes are more abundant in the Martian atmosphere than expected, as measured by NASA's Curiosity rover....
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Processes in Mars' surface material can explain why particular xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr) isotopes are more abundant in the Martian atmosphere than expected, as measured by NASA's Curiosity rover. Cosmic rays striking barium (Ba) or bromine (Br) atoms can alter isotopic ratios of xenon and krypton.
Isotopic Clues to Mars' Crust-Atmosphere Interactions
A NASA radio on Europe's Trace Gas Orbiter, which reached Mars in October 2016, has succeeded in its first test of receiving data from NASA Mars rovers, both Opportunity and Curiosity. This grap...
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TGO-ExoMars-Trace-Gas-Orbiter-pia21139-Demo.jpg
Strengthening the Mars Telecommunications Network
Download a PDF of the Curiosity Sticker Template.
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Curiosity Sticker Template
Curiosity Sticker Template
On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the payload fairing protecting NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) stands atop the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which is rea...
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On Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the payload fairing protecting NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) stands atop the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which is ready to roll from the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41.
Mars Science Lab Atop Atlas V
​ NASA's Curiosity rover used an instrument called SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) to detect seasonal changes in atmospheric methane in Gale Crater. The methane signal has been observed for nearly...
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NASA's Curiosity rover used an instrument called SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) to detect seasonal changes in atmospheric methane in Gale Crater. The methane signal has been observed for nearly three Martian years (nearly six Earth years), peaking each summer.
Mars' Mysterious Methane
A crane is attached to the first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission upon its arrival at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cap...
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A crane is attached to the first stage of the Atlas V rocket for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission upon its arrival at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Atlas V Arrives at Launch Pad

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