The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, featuring the renowned Curiosity rover, was designed to assess the planet's past and present habitability. Equipped with an array of advanced scientific instruments, including a drill and a sample analysis unit, Curiosity explored the Gale Crater, a site believed to contain evidence of ancient Martian environments. It delivered groundbreaking discoveries, including the detection of organic molecules and the confirmation of an ancient, potentially habitable lake bed.
Atlas V with 5m Fairing, 4 SRB, 1 Centaur upper stage engine.
See DetailsUnited Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. ULA launches from both coasts of the US. They launch their Atlas V vehicle from LC-41 in Cape Canaveral and LC-3E at Vandeberg. Their Delta IV launches from LC-37 at Cape Canaveral and LC-6 at Vandenberg.
INFO WIKIWritten by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University Earth planning date: Friday, May 16, 2025 As Curiosity progresses up Mount Sharp, it crosses different terrains, which the team has mapped from orbit. If you want to …
Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 Today we came into another strange and interesting workspace (see image above) that is as exciting as t…
Written by Remington Free, Operations Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Friday, May 9, 2025 I was on downlink today for SA-SPaH, our robotic arm team. We successfully completed a number of fun arm ac…
Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University Earth planning date: Monday, May 12, 2025 Curiosity was back to work Monday, picking up where it left off from Friday’s plan. Tosol’s plan started with an APXS analys…
Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick Earth planning date: Monday, May 5, 2025 Our 29-meter weekend drive (about 95 feet) was successful, and we are still in the band of polygon-rich bedr…
Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.
6 satellites from satellite manufacturer SpaceTY, including 3 multi-spectral Earth observation satellites and 3 technology demonstration satellites f…
A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
12 satellites from ADASPACE testing in-orbit data processing capabilities for other satellites with artificial intelligence assistance, as well as in…
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.
3 Chinese reconnaissance satellites of unknown purposes, officially reported as for "Electromagnetic environment probing".
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.