Engineers at NASA prepared Curiosity, the next Martian rover, for its flight to the Mars in November 2011

as part of the Mars Science Laboratory project. Once Curiositys long voyage through space is complete, the rover will land on Mars. Contact with Mars is expected to take place during the summer of 2012. Unlike past rovers, including Spirit, Opportunity, and Sojourner, Curiosity will assume many more duties than simply accumulating data to send to Earth (Durda 7). Onboard, it will contain an entire lab and will conduct an intensive, analytical investigation during its 23 month long stay on Mars. Curiositys main objectives include investigating potential evidence suggesting the existence of microbial life and indications that the planet had the means to support it at some point during its history, including organic molecules and other necessities to support life (Ferron 19). Curiosity far exceeds the dimensions of preceding planetary rovers: it measures ten feet in length, weighs nearly a ton on Earth, and includes a six foot tall mast and a seven and a half foot arm. Curiosity houses an intensely powerful laser capable of vaporizing small amounts of minerals and soil from a distance of thirty feet. The rover will be equipped with a spectrometer capable of examining the resultant cloud of vapor. The lasers purpose is to determine the composition of the rocks and soil on the surface of Mars (Riddle 83). The pre-launch period includes all matters from initial mission development to each stage of constructing and testing the rover, its spacecraft and its launch vehicle prior to departure from Earth. It requires meticulous attention to detail to ensure all factors are correct for a successful, safe, and timely launch. While engineers work on building and testing, scientists throughout the United States and the world are coordinating their observations and deciding how to best utilize the rover's numerous capabilities (Mraz 24). In the pre-launch phase, Mars Science Laboratory was assembled from a collection of individual components to a remarkably capable and sophisticated rover. The total cost of the MSL project is about $2.5 billion (Riddle 82). From concept to creation, this rover will make its way from Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena to its final Earth-bound destination, Cape Canaveral. A signal from the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, which includes the Curiosity rover, was received by officials shortly after separation by the spacecraft. The spacecraft is freely traveling and currently is headed for Mars after separation from the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that started its journey to the Red Planet. Liftoff was timely: 10:02 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral (Riddle 83). The cruise phase began shortly after separation from the launch vehicle when the spacecraft had completed the launch phase. Cruise shall end when the spacecraft is a month and a half from entry into the atmosphere of Mars, at which point the approach phase shall begin. Major activities during the cruise phase include: health checks and maintenance of the spacecraft in its cruise configuration, monitoring and calibration of the spacecraft and subsystems, altitude correction turns, navigation activities, including trajectory correction maneuvers, and preparation for entry and landing. The entry phase begins when the spacecraft reaches the Martian atmosphere, about 78 miles above the surface, and ends when the rover is safely on the surface of Mars. Entry, descent, and landing for the Curiosity mission will involve a collaboration of technologies developed for previos NASA Mars missions, in addition to novel technologies (Mars 24). Instead of the airbag assisted landing reminiscent of past Mars missions, Mars Science Laboratory shall use a guided entry and a sky crane system to land the rover.

The massive size of the Mars Science Laboratory prevents the usage of an airbag-assisted procedure for landing. Rather, the Mars Science Laboratory will use the sky crane system, capable of successfully landing a larger rover onto the surface. This system will place the rover on its wheels, ready to start its mission (Mars 25). The new landing architecture, with its usage of guided entry, will allow for far more precision. This advanced precision delivery will allow more areas of Mars to be explored and potentially allow scientists to examine previously unobserved areas of Mars. Hundreds of scientists and engineers have worked to bring this project to fruition. The most crucial members of the Mars Science Laboratory work at JPL. They are listed below: Project Manager Deputy Project Manager Project Scientist Deputy Project Scientists Chief Engineers Integrated System Engineering Lead Project Systems Engineer Deputy Project Systems Engineer Flight System Manager Deputy Flight System Managers Mission System Manager Payload Manager Mission Assurance Manager Launch Services and MultiMission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Office Manager Peter Theisinger Richard Cook John Grotzinger Joy Crisp Ashwin Vasavada Rob Manning and Joel Krajewski Dara Sabahi Dara Sabahi Grace Tan-Wang Matt Wallace Jordan Evans Mike Watkins John "Jeff" Simmonds Richard Kemski David Woerner

The Mars Science Laboratorys main objective is to determine if the Gale Crater area of Mars contains any evidence of either past or present environments with favorable conditions for life. These studies are a segment of a wider examination of past and present processes in the atmosphere and surface of Mars. The research will be conducted through ten instrument-based scientific investigations. Curiosity carries the instruments required to conduct these investigations and will facilitate their use by providing mobility, the capability of acquisitioning samples, power, and communications. The primary mission will be completed within one Mars year (Evans 18).

Included in the payload are mast-mounted instruments which will survey the rovers surroundings and will assess potential sampling targets; instruments on the robotic arm for closeproximity inspections; laboratory instruments within the rover for rock sample analysis,; and instruments to monitor and gather information about the environment. In addition to the scientific equipment, engineering sensors located on the heat shield shall collect information about the atmosphere of Mars and the performance of the spacecraft throughout its descent (Evans 19). To make full usage of Curiositys capabilities, an international team of scientists will make decisions about the activities to be conducted during the following day. Even if Curiositys technology continually performs flawlessly, certain types of evidence about past environments the mission will seek perhaps might not have persisted in the rock record. While the possibility that lifeforms had existed on Mars provokes scientific and philosophic interest, a finding that conditions harmful to life would also be beneficial with insight about differences and similarities between early Mars and early Earth (Ferron 19). The mission will assess whether the area Curiosity explores has ever been a potential habitat for Martian life. Whether life has existed on Mars is an open question that this mission, by itself, is not designed to answer. Curiosity does not carry experiments to detect active processes that would signify present-day biological metabolism. Nor does it have the ability to image microorganisms or their fossil equivalents. However, if this mission finds that the field site in Gale Crater has had conditions favorable for habitability and for preserving evidence about life, those findings can shape future missions that would bring samples back to Earth for life-detection tests or for missions that carry advanced life-detection experiments to Mars. In this sense, the Mars Science Laboratory is the prospecting stage in a step-by-step program of exploration, reconnaissance, prospecting and mining evidence for a definitive answer about whether life has existed on Mars. NASA's Astrobiology Program has aided in development of the Mars Science Laboratory science payload and in studies of extreme habitats on Earth that can help in understanding possible habitats on Mars (Durda 7). Three conditions considered crucial for habitability are liquid water, other chemical ingredients utilized by life and a source of energy. The Mars Science Laboratory mission marks advances the "follow the water" strategy of NASA Mars exploration since the mid-1990s to a strategy of determining the best settings for seeking an answer to whether Mars ever supported life (Riddle 82). Curiosity will land in a region where this key item on the checklist of life's requirements has already been determined: It was wet. Observations from Mars orbit during five years of assessing candidate landing sites have made these areas some of the most intensely studied places on Mars. Researchers have used NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to map the area's mineralogy, finding exposures of clay minerals. Clays, other phyllosilicates, and sulfates form under conditions with adequate liquid water in a life-supporting, medium range between very acidic and very alkaline (Mars 26). Curiosity will inventory other basic ingredients for life, seek additional evidence about water and investigate how conditions in the area have changed over time. The wet environment in which the clay minerals formed is long gone, probably occurring more than 3 billion years ago. Examining the geological context for those minerals, such as the minerals in younger rock layers, could advance understanding of habitat change to drier conditions. The rover can also check for traces of water remaining bound into the mineral structure of rocks at and near the

surface. Curiosity will also check for other chemical elements important for life, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and oxygen (Mars 27). The rover will definitively identify minerals, which provide a lasting record of the temperatures, pressures and chemistry present when the minerals were formed or altered. Researchers will add that information to observations about geological context, such as the patterns and processes of sedimentary rock accumulation, to chart a chronology of how the area's environments have changed over time. Energy for life on Mars could come from sunlight, heat or mixtures of chemicals with an energy gradient that could be exploited by biological metabolism. The information Curiosity collects about minerals and about the area's modern environment will be analyzed for clues about possible past and present energy sources for life (Mraz 24). Curiosity will measure the ratios of different isotopes of several elements. Isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights. Ratios such as the proportion of carbon-13 to carbon-12 can provide insight into planetary processes. For example, Mars once had a much denser atmosphere than it does today, and if the loss occurred at the top of the atmosphere, that process would favor increased concentration of heavier isotopes in the retained, modern atmosphere. Such processes can be relevant to habitability and biology. Curiosity will assess isotopic ratios in methane if that gas is in the air around the rover. Methane is an organic molecule, and its carbon isotope ratio can be very distinctive. Observations from orbit and from Earth indicate traces of it may be present in Mars' atmosphere (Ferron 19). Isotopic ratios could be clues about whether methane is being produced by microbes or by a non-biological process.

Works Cited Durda, Daniel D. "Planetary Science In The Red." Mercury 38.1 (2009): 7. Science Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 5 Feb. 2012. Evans, Jon. "Life On Mars?." Chemistry & Industry 19 (2006): 18-19. Science Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 5 Feb. 2012. Ferron, Karri. "Mars Rover Landing Site Determined." Astronomy 39.11 (2011): 19. Science Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 5 Feb. 2012. "The Mars Debate." Ad Astra 21.1 (2009): 24-27. Science Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 5 Feb. 2012. Mraz, Stephen J. "NASA Prepares A Mobile Lab For A Trip To Mars." Machine Design 82.21 (2010): 22-24. Science Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 5 Feb. 2012. Riddle, Bob. "We're Back!." Science Scope 35.3 (2011): 82-84. Science Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 5 Feb. 2012.