Curiosity Rover Safely Lands on Mars – Begins Two Year Mission!

In this amazing NASA image, the MRO HiRISE satellite captures the MSL suspended from a supersonic parachute during a terrifying descent to the Mars surface!

After a tense 352-million mile journey, NASA’s newest rover, Curiosity, made a pinpoint landing in the Gale crater on Mars late last night!  It seemed that the entire world was watching, including several other satellites.  The NASA Mars Reconnaissance orbiter captured the image to the left – a shot of Curiosity connected to a supersonic parachute during the descent to Gale Crater.  Hundreds of people gathered in New York’s time square to watch the landing on the big screen.  The landing activities were streamed live online and millions cheered with the mission crew after touchdown.  The excitement and elation were global and contagious!

As we join with the mission team in a collective high five, we wish the Curiosity rover great success in a two-year mission to search for signs that life may have once existed on Mars.

Share in our enthusiasm and watch the video below!

And don’t forget to visit the NASA website for the very latest information about the Mars Science Laboratory mission and the Curiosity rover.  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

 

New JPL Website Offers NASA Infographics + Data to Create Your Own

Infographic explaining how the Curiosity rover landed on Mars on August 5, 2012

Researchers, Teachers and Students should take note of the new NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website based around infographics!

Infographics are those colorful graphics with lots of data that you have probably seen a lot of lately.  They are a popular way to quickly explain complex information in a visually interesting and easy to understand way.

JPL wants to help you to create great infographics.  They’ve made it easy to get data sets for various missions, planets, spacecraft, stars, and other space related information.  Just find the subject your’e interested in, download the data sets, decide how you’d like to talk about the information, then use one of JPL’s current infographics as inspiration for your own.  Users can upload new infographics for feedback or find pre-made graphics for use in classrooms, projects, etc.

Check out the JPL Infographics website today and show us your research and graphical skills!   http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/index.php