Curiosity On the Way

Curiosity launched successfully this morning and began its 8-month journey to Mars. It should arrive at Mars on August 5th of 2012. The Mars Science Laboratory is designed to look for the evidence of the possibility that life could take hold on the planet or that there are conditions that were suitable for the existence of life forms in the past.
The Rover will be exploring the Gale Crater.  There are numerous ways to view the mission on NASA TV...pick your method at this site:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

UC TV Science Programs

The University of California has a great line-up of Science programs and lectures to view online. There are many about Aerospace and Astronomy. In an episode from July 2011 Steve Squyres, Martian Rover lead scientist, talked about the future of Planetary Exploration. You can view the hour-long lecture here:
http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=21041

Gale Crater 3D

I have been exploring the JMARS from Themis. I am very new to it, but after finding the Gale Crater and then adding a 3D layer, I was able to get a little perspective. More exploring to do in the next few days...

MSL Exploration Animation

This excellent animation depicts the key events of the Mars Science Laboratory, from it's journey to its arrival and exploration of the Gale Crater in 2012.

You can watch the animation from JPL on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4boyXQuUIw

MSL getting ready !

For NASA's upcoming mission to the Red Planet, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover was rolled out of its processing facility on Nov. 3 atop the payload transporter at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Video at YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=J3smLS9y4L0

Mars500 to Open Hatch on November 4th 2011

A multi-part ground-based experiment simulating a manned flight to Mars will come to an end on Friday at 6am EST, when the crew emerges from the facility at The Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow. There are two ESA members of the crew. Check out the European portal: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars500/

You can watch the Opening of the Hatch live at this link:  http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars500/SEMZ97LUBUG_0.html

"The participants act as subjects in scientific investigations to assess the effect that isolation has on various psychological and physiological aspects, such as stress, hormone regulation and immunity, sleep quality, mood and the effectiveness of dietary supplements." (ESA)

And so, it begins...

Following the Mars Science Laboratory

The next NASA mission to Mars is their Science Laboratory. It has a launch window between November 25th and December 18th of 2011 with a planned arrival at Mars in August 2012. The landing site is the Gale Crater which is quite a bit West of the Spirit Rover. Perhaps when their mission are nearly finished, they can head towards one another and possibly meet !