Tomorrow, Saturday, November 26 at 10:02 Eastern (US) time (15:02 UTC), an Atlas V rocket transporting the Curiosity Mars rover will blast removed from Florida, delivering the sophisticated moving lab towards the Red-colored Planet.
You can view the launch live at NASA TV, or I suggest around the NASA/JPL UStream funnel. I imagine I ll be up and tweeting about this, as will my friend Emily Lakdawalla.
It's no exaggeration to express that Curiosity has become a step forward for Mars exploration. Made to continue for nearly 2 yrs, this is 3 meters lengthy how big a hefty golf buggy and it is scientific payload is ten occasions more massive than its forerunners. It's instruments (PDF) that may sample and taste the environment and surface, imagers to supply high definition stereo system pictures, a laser to zap rocks and obtain their spectra (which yields their composition), or even a camera which will take video from the latter minutes of their descent towards the surface to supply aerial context because of its cameras once it lands.
Should you thought Spirit and Chance were awesome and also you d be right Curiosity will in the ante substantially. I m very excited by the possibilities of the science this rover is going to do, and also the exploration this is able to like a precursor, eventually, to a person walking feet about this odd, dry, and cold neighboring world.
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