New Mars rover arrives at Florida launch site (Reuters)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, a nuclear-powered, car-sized rover designed to assess the planet's suitability for life, reached the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations, officials said on Thursday.

Aboard the Air Force cargo plane with the rover, named Curiosity, was the complicated landing system it will use for a pinpoint touchdown on Mars in August 2012.

Curiosity is about four times bigger and has many more science instruments than NASA's last Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which reached the Red Planet in 2004 for what were expected to be three-month missions.

Seven years later, Spirit is no longer working, but Opportunity remains operational. Those rovers were dispatched to look for signs of past water on Mars.

The new rover's bigger size and more robust science capabilities are intended to answer a thornier riddle: Does the Red Planet have, or has it ever had, the right conditions for microbial life to arise?

The rover is designed to spend at least one Martian year -- the equivalent of almost two Earth years -- surveying the selected region to assess habitability.

Problems developing the "sky crane" descent system forced NASA to miss its original launch opportunity in 2009 and added $800 million to the project.

"The design and building part of the mission is nearly behind us now," David Gruel, manager of Mars Science Lab's assembly, test and launch operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

The agency's inspector general warned earlier this month that NASA was in danger of missing this year's launch opportunity as well, a period that opens November 25 and runs through December 18 when Earth and Mars are favorably aligned for interplanetary transport.

But NASA said it had resolved issues by the June 8 report and is in good shape for meeting the opening of the probe's launch window.

NASA is in the midst of a final assessment of four potential landing sites.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)

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New Mars rover arrives at Florida launch site

Technicians check the wiring of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover 'Curiosity', where it is undergoing pre-flight tests, in the 'clean room' of the spacecraft assembly facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California September 16, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:52pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, a nuclear-powered, car-sized rover designed to assess the planet's suitability for life, reached the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations, officials said on Thursday.

Aboard the Air Force cargo plane with the rover, named Curiosity, was the complicated landing system it will use for a pinpoint touchdown on Mars in August 2012.

Curiosity is about four times bigger and has many more science instruments than NASA's last Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which reached the Red Planet in 2004 for what were expected to be three-month missions.

Seven years later, Spirit is no longer working, but Opportunity remains operational. Those rovers were dispatched to look for signs of past water on Mars.

The new rover's bigger size and more robust science capabilities are intended to answer a thornier riddle: Does the Red Planet have, or has it ever had, the right conditions for microbial life to arise?

The rover is designed to spend at least one Martian year -- the equivalent of almost two Earth years -- surveying the selected region to assess habitability.

Problems developing the "sky crane" descent system forced NASA to miss its original launch opportunity in 2009 and added $800 million to the project.

"The design and building part of the mission is nearly behind us now," David Gruel, manager of Mars Science Lab's assembly, test and launch operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

The agency's inspector general warned earlier this month that NASA was in danger of missing this year's launch opportunity as well, a period that opens November 25 and runs through December 18 when Earth and Mars are favorably aligned for interplanetary transport.

But NASA said it had resolved issues by the June 8 report and is in good shape for meeting the opening of the probe's launch window.

NASA is in the midst of a final assessment of four potential landing sites.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)

View the original article here

Multinational crew arrives at space station

The Russian Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft sits docked to the International Space Station before the hatches open between the two spacecraft, June 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/NASA TV

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jun 9, 2011 10:35pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz capsule with a three-man multinational crew arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday to begin a six-month mission that will include hosting NASA's final space shuttle crew.

After a two-day journey, the Soyuz slipped into a docking port on the Russian side of the orbital outpost at 5:18 p.m. EDT (2118 GMT) as the spacecraft sailed 218 miles above Rio de Janeiro.

The arrival of cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, NASA astronaut Mike Fossum and Japan's Satoshi Furukawa brings the resident station crew back up to its full staff of six. They join station commander Andrey Borisenko, cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA's Ron Garan, who have been aboard the station since April 6.

The previous crew, which included Italy's Paolo Nespoli, completed a six-month stint while shuttle Endeavour was visiting the station last month to deliver the $2 Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector and spare parts.

The station is being prepared for a final shuttle mission in July. Shuttle Atlantis is due to arrive July 10 for an eight-day stay.

The 135th and final space mission will be devoted to delivering a year's worth of supplies to the outpost.

"It's going to be an extremely busy four weeks (for the station crew) until the launch of Atlantis," NASA mission commentator Rob Navias said.

The U.S. space agency intends to turn over cargo runs to the station to commercial firms, but the extra supplies will tide over the station in case of delays.

During Atlantis' stay, Fossum, a veteran of two previous shuttle flights, will partner with Garan for a spacewalk to pack up a broken coolant pump for return to Earth.

Volkov, the son of a cosmonaut and former station commander, returns for a second stint aboard the outpost. Furukawa, a rookie, is a former flight surgeon and the third astronaut from Japan to live on the station.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Eric Walsh)

View the original article here