Mars Rover Launch a Success – NASA Makes First Contact with Spacecraft after Launch

This morning was another success for NASA as they launched the newest Mars Rover on its way to the Red Planet. The mars rover is part of a larger Mars Science Laboratory which lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket at 10:02 a.m. EST this morning.

One of the largest mars rovers ever sent to explore the Earth’s closest neighboring planet, the mars rover, which is about the soze of a car, is named Curiosity.

Not long after lift-off today, NASA was able to receive an signal from the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, confirming that the launch was a success and that everything is moving forward as planned for the journey to Mars.

“We are very excited about sending the world’s most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we’ll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we’ve never been.”

According to a statement from NASA, the mission will use a new landing technology, designed to be more precise than previous methods. Incorporating a sky-crane, the landing is planned to place mars rover Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012.

The rover will then spend the next 2 years investigating whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

“The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our trajectory, and we’re on our way to Mars,” said Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “The spacecraft is in communication, thermally stable and power positive.”

Additional information about the unique science mission of the Curiosity Mars Rover and the Mars Science Laboratory Project are available on the NASA web site at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.