Aug 16 2012

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-152 NASA TO HOST CURIOSITY ROVER UPDATE TELECONFERENCE AUG. 17

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Friday, Aug. 17, to provide a status update on the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., are checking out Curiosity's subsystems and 10 instruments. Curiosity is in the opening days of a two-year mission to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life. Mission team members are "living" on Mars time. A Martian day is approximately 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, meaning team members start their shift 40 minutes later each day. The scheduling of this teleconference and other Curiosity media events is determined by their availability.