Updated Aug. 1, 2012 – 6:42pm PDT
PASADENA, Calif. – The public is invited to tune in for a series of news briefings from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for the upcoming landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars.
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission will deliver the nearly 2,000-pound (1-ton), car-size robotic roving laboratory to the surface of Mars at 10:31 p.m. PDT Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6). Curiosity’s landing will mark the start of a two-year prime mission to investigate whether one of the most intriguing places on Mars ever has offered an environment favorable for microbial life.
News Briefing and Televised Event Schedule
News briefings will be held at JPL beginning Thursday, Aug. 2, and carried live on NASA Television. Additional events, including a NASA Social Media event Aug. 1 and landing commentary Aug. 5, will be televised. A full schedule of live news briefings is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntvnews andhttp://www.nasa.gov/msl .
Media unable to attend briefings may contact the NASA/JPL Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011 to request call-in information for either question-and-answer capability or a listen-only line. These limited phone lines will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. In addition, participating NASA locations will offer two-way question-and-answer capability for news briefings held during that center’s regular business hours.
The schedule of events below is subject to change. All times are PDT.
Thursday, Aug. 2
— 10 a.m. – Mission Science Overview News Briefing
— 11 a.m. – Mission Engineering Overview News Briefing
Friday, Aug. 3
— 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – NASA Social
Saturday, Aug. 4
— 9:30 a.m. – Prelanding Update and Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Overview News Briefing
Sunday, Aug. 5
— 9:30 a.m. – Final Prelanding Update News Briefing
— 3 p.m. – NASA Science News Briefing
— 8:30 p.m. to about 11 p.m. – Landing Commentary No. 1
— No earlier than 11:15 p.m. – Post-landing News Briefing
Monday, Aug. 6
— 12:30 to 1:30 a.m. – Landing Commentary No. 2
— 9 a.m. – Landing Recap News Briefing
— 4 p.m. – Possible New Images News Briefing
Tuesday, Aug. 7
— 10 a.m. – News Briefing
Wednesday, Aug. 8
— 10 a.m. – News Briefing
Thursday, Aug. 9
— 10 a.m. – News Briefing
Friday, Aug. 10
— 10 a.m. (tentative) – News Briefing
For information on how to watch NASA TV, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv . The televised events will also be streamed live online at: http://www.Ustream.tv/nasa .
NASA Television Commentary Feeds
Two live feeds during key landing activities from mission control at JPL will be carried on NASA TV and on the Web from 8:30 to 11 p.m. PDT Aug. 5, and from 12:30 to 1:30 a.m. PDT Aug. 6. The NASA TV Public Channel andhttp://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl will carry a feed including commentary and interviews.
The NASA TV Media Channel and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 will carry an uninterrupted, clean feed with only mission audio.
Online Information
Extensive information on the Mars Science Laboratory mission, including an electronic copy of the press kit, news releases, fact sheets, status reports, briefing schedule and images, is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl .
For more information about NASA’s Mars program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars .
The public can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity andhttp://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .
The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.
Guy Webster/DC Agle 818-354-6278/818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov /agle@jpl.nasa.gov