Latest The Mars Science Laboratory Stories

[ Watch the Launch Video ] The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft and the rover known as Curiosity are on their way to the Red Planet after lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 shortly after 10am EST Saturday. An Atlas V rocket carrying MSL successfully ignited and cleared the tower at 10:02am Eastern on November 26, according to NASA's official launch blog. Approximately four minutes later, the first stage exhausted its propellant and...

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft with the Curiosity rover is set to launch to the planet Mars aboard an Atlas V rocket on Nov. 25, 2011 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends from 10:25 a.m. to 12:08 p.m. EST (7:25 a.m. to 9:08 a.m. PST). The launch period for the mission extends through Dec. 18. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in August 2012. Curiosity has 10 science instruments to search for evidence about...

NASA's proposed mission to send a nuclear-powered rover to Mars by 2009 is facing funding and developmental problems which may force its launch date to be pushed back.In a congressional hearing this month, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said that preliminary tests revealed that the heat shield on the Mars Science Laboratory would be unable to survive its prospective entrance through the Martian atmosphere.NASA chose to use a heat shield that is similar in composition to the one used by...