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WHAT'S NEW What's New | Newsroom View By Year:    2007    2008    2009 View By News Type:    Press Releases    Spotlights    All Spotlight 12.08.2008 Keeping it Cool (...or Warm!) If the car-size Mars Science Laboratory rover overheats or if it stalls because it's cold, you can't call a tow truck on Mars! To keep the rover running, engineers just installed a pump system similar to a car's radiator. Press Release 12.04.2008 Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Next NASA Mars Mission Rescheduled For 2011 NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will launch two years later than previously planned, in the fall of 2011. The mission will send a next-generation rover with unprecedented research tools to study the early environmental history of Mars. Spotlight 12.01.2008 The Games We Play When you're training for a tough task, role-playing games can prepare you for the real thing. Scientists play "games" too. Sixty Mars scientists from around the world just finished four exercises to practice directing the Mars Science Laboratory rover's activities after it lands. Spotlight 11.24.2008 The Politics of Landing Electing where to send a rover on the diverse landscape of Mars is no easy task. With a lot at stake, two sides of the Mars team--scientists and engineers--have been lobbying for the best candidate landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory rover. Press Release 11.19.2008 Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Site List Narrows For NASA's Next Mars Landing Four intriguing places on Mars have risen to the final round as NASA selects a landing site for its next Mars mission, the Mars Science Laboratory. Spotlight 11.19.2008 A Precious Ring Just as jewelry makers take care to set a gem in a ring, a tireless team has been working late hours to tuck the Mars Science Laboratory rover inside its intricate, protective aeroshell and mount it for the first time on a giant gold "ring" (the cruise structure). Press Release 11.18.2008 Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Invites Students to Name New Mars Rover NASA is looking for the right stuff, or in this case, the right name for the next Mars rover. Spotlight 11.13.2008 So Happy Together Imagine taking a very long 10-month journey with someone you've just recently met! The assembly team successfully introduced the Mars Science Laboratory rover to one of its space travel partners. Spotlight 11.10.2008 A Rough, Tough, Red Planet Rock Hound Humans can't go to Mars (yet), but at least for now, we can send extensions of ourselves. Mars Science Laboratory's rover will be the hardiest geologist the red planet's seen yet, going farther and into rougher terrain than ever before. Spotlight 11.03.2008 High-Flying Test Rides When you have just one chance to land Mars' biggest rover, you have to practice - a lot. So, how do you copy a high-speed descent on Mars? Strap special sensors to an F/A-18 jet at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. Spotlight 10.27.2008 One Hot, Giant "Clamshell" Hot off a special delivery truck from Lockheed Martin in Denver comes the aeroshell for the Mars Science Laboratory rover. Like two pieces of a giant clam, the aeroshell's backshell and the heatshield come together to protect the rover and the propulsion stage that safely delivers it to the surface of Mars. Spotlight 10.23.2008 "Hanging Six" on Mars When it descends through the Martian sky, the Mars Science Laboratory rover will "hang six," riding the Martian wind. The descent stage will lower the rover to the ground using a "Bridle Umbilical Device." Spotlight 09.18.2008 Survivor: Mars The Mars tribe has spoken. After searching far and wide for a landing site that can tell them if Mars was ever livable for microscopic life, the tribe of Mars experts has eliminated dozens of contenders. Only seven survive (labeled in white). Spotlight 08.20.2008 Driving Test is a Wheel Success Like a racecar in need of high-performance tires, the next rover to explore Mars needs a rugged set of wheels. Like the racing tires, the off-road wheels must perform flawlessly. Together with a rugged suspension system, they must be lightweight, strong, and agile enough to handle extreme terrain. takes a lot of drilling to prepare to use a drill 100 million miles away, beyond the reach of humans. The Mars Science Laboratory rover is wasting no time doing just that. With an industrial-strength drill, the rover will pulverize the inside of hard, volcanic rocks on Mars and study the powder. Spotlight 06.30.2008 Mars Rover Gets the Drill It takes a lot of drilling to prepare to use a drill 100 million miles away, beyond the reach of humans. The Mars Science Laboratory rover is wasting no time doing just that. With an industrial-strength drill, the rover will pulverize the inside of hard, volcanic rocks on Mars and study the powder. Spotlight 05.12.2008 Third-Generation Mars Rover Dwarfs Predecessors Mars rovers appear to be shrinking with age! The biggest, baddest, newest rover being built is the Mars Science Laboratory rover (right). It's the size of a small sport-utility vehicle. Still exploring Mars four years after landing are the dune-buggy-sized rovers Spirit and Opportunity (left). The first-generation rover, Sojourner, is the size of a microwave oven. Spotlight 04.21.2008 Martian Eyes Are Watching The next set of "eyes" to journey to Mars are already busy observing people and objects on Earth. Keen vision will be essential to keeping the Mars Science Laboratory rover, a vehicle the size of a small SUV, out of trouble amid the red planet's cliffs, sand, and boulders. Spotlight 04.02.2008 No Speed Limit on Mars It's a good thing there's no speed limit on Mars, because the next parachute to fly to the red planet deploys faster than you can legally drive on a California freeway! Spotlight 03.11.2008 Keeping Time to a New Rover Beat Engineers worked late on March 7th, "keeping time" with an aggressive schedule for building the Mars Science Laboratory rover. Getting into a new rhythm of hard work to come, the mission team was upbeat as they kicked off a mission phase called ATLO (Assembly, Testing, and Launch Operations). Spotlight 03.07.2008 Big Wheels Cross The Finish Line...for Now! NASA's next mission to Mars gets rolling, as engineers on the mobility team cross a finish line of their own. Press Release 02.15.2008 Source: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab Mars Rovers Sharpen Questions About Livable Conditions Like salt used as a preservative, high concentrations of dissolved minerals in the wet, early-Mars environment known from discoveries by NASA's Opportunity rover may have thwarted any microbes from developing or surviving.