Atlas V 541 | MSL (Curiosity)

Launch Provider & Rocket

• Provider: United Launch Alliance (Commercial)
• Rocket: Atlas V 541 — Atlas family

Mission

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, featuring the renowned Curiosity rover, was designed to assess the planet's past and present habitability. Equipped with an array of advanced scientific instruments, including a drill and a sample analysis unit, Curiosity explored the Gale Crater, a site believed to contain evidence of ancient Martian environments. It delivered groundbreaking discoveries, including the detection of organic molecules and the confirmation of an ancient, potentially habitable lake bed.

• Type: Robotic Exploration
• Orbit: Mars Orbit (Mars)

Launch Site

• Pad: Space Launch Complex 41
• Location: Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
• View on map

Program

• NASA Large Strategic Science Missions — NASA's large strategic science missions or large strategic missions, formerly known as Flagship missions or Flagship-class missions, are the costliest and most capable NASA science spacecraft. Flagship missions exist within all four divisions of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD): the astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics and planetary science divisions. (Wikipedia)