Mars Science Laboratory
NASA robotic mission that landed the Curiosity rover on Mars.
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011. It successfully landed the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012, achieving the most accurate Martian landing of any spacecraft at that time. The mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, with a total cost of US$2.5 billion.
- Launch date
- November 26, 2011
- Landing date
- August 6, 2012
- Landing site
- Aeolis Palus region of Gale Crater
- Total cost
- US$2.5 billion
- Rover mass
- 899 kg (1,982 lb)
- Rover top speed
- 90 m (300 ft) per hour
- Power source
- Multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG)
Quick Facts
- Mission Type
- Mars rover
- Operator
- NASA
- Satcat
- 37936
- Website
- [https: · science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/ science.nasa.gov]
- Mission Duration
- Primary: 669 sols (687 days) · Time since landing: 2012 · 08 · 06 sols (6 August 2012 05:17 · sep=,)
- Manufacturer
- JPL
- Launch Mass
- 8463 lb
- Launch Date
- November 26, 2011, 15:02:00.211 UTC
- Launch Rocket
- Atlas V 541 (AV-028)
- Launch Site
- Cape Canaveral SLC-41
- Launch Contractor
- United Launch Alliance
- Insignia
- Mars Science Laboratory mission logo.png
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The MSL spacecraft had a launch mass of 3,893 kg, comprising a cruise stage, an entry-descent-landing system, and the 899 kg Curiosity rover. The rover is about twice as long and five times as heavy as the earlier Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, carrying over ten times the mass of scientific instruments. It uses a six-wheeled rocker-bogie suspension system, with wheels 50 cm in diameter, each independently actuated and geared, and the four corner wheels independently steerable. The wheel tread pattern spells "JPL" in Morse code.
Reader's Guide
The MSL mission has four scientific goals: determining the landing site's habitability (including the role of water), studying the climate and geology of Mars, and preparing for a future human mission. Its eight main objectives include investigating organic carbon compounds, chemical building blocks of life, biosignatures, surface and near-surface composition, rock and soil formation processes, long-term atmospheric evolution, water and carbon dioxide cycling, and surface radiation. About one year into the surface mission, after assessing that ancient Mars could have been hospitable to microbial life, the objectives evolved to developing predictive models for the preservation of organic compounds and biomolecules, a branch of paleontology called taphonomy. The rover's computers, running the VxWorks operating system, include two identical RAD750 CPUs operating at 200 MHz, with radiation-hardened memory. Communication is via X band directly to Earth and UHF relay through Mars orbiters, with most data returned via UHF links.
Did You Know?
- MSL landed 2.4 km east and 400 m north of the center of its target landing ellipse of 7 by 20 km.
- The rover's computers have 256 KB of EEPROM, 256 MB of DRAM, and 2 GB of flash memory.
- The MEDLI instrumentation suite was installed in the heatshield to measure aerothermal environments and atmospheric density.
- The one-way communication delay with Earth varies from 4 to 22 minutes, averaging 12.5 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Mars Science Laboratory?
MSL is NASA's flagship robotic mission to Mars, launched in late 2011 and managed by JPL at Caltech. It delivered the Curiosity rover to the Aeolis Palus region inside Gale Crater in August 2012, marking the most precise planetary landing ever achieved at that point.
What is Mars Science Laboratory's role and capabilities?
The mission's core purpose is to assess whether Mars ever had conditions suitable for microbial life, using the 899-kilogram Curiosity rover as its field laboratory. The rover can travel up to 90 meters per hour while collecting and analyzing rock and soil samples on the surface.
How does Mars Science Laboratory's story end?
Unlike a narrative with a fixed finale, MSL is an ongoing exploration program with no predetermined end date. As of the latest updates, Curiosity continues to traverse Gale Crater, meaning the mission's story is still being written in real time.
Why is Mars Science Laboratory important to the astrobiology community?
MSL was the first Mars mission explicitly designed to search for past habitability and biosignatures, bridging the gap between earlier geological surveys and full-scale sample-return efforts. Its 2.5-billion-dollar investment also set a new benchmark for the scale and ambition of robotic planetary science.
What are Mars Science Laboratory's key specs fans should know?
Curiosity weighs roughly 899 kg (about 1,982 lb) and cruises at a top speed of 90 meters per hour across the Martian terrain. The entire mission, from its November 26, 2011 launch to its August 6, 2012 landing, cost NASA approximately 2.5 billion US dollars.
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