Curiosity: Robot Geologist and Chemist in One!
In this picture, the rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover's arm, which extends about 7 feet (2 meters).

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 and http://www.nasa.gov/msl.

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 and http://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 and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

2012-221b

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

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