Mars Science Laboratory

The Mars Science Laboratory is the latest and most advanced NASA roving vehicle to explore the surface of Mars. The Curiosity rover has landed in Gale crater and will explore this region assessing conditions on the surface that might be hospitable to life and paving the way for later even more sophisticated exploration of the surface. This book describes the mission, its exploration and scientific objectives, studies leading to the design of the mission and the instruments that accomplish the objectives of the mission. This book is aimed at all those engaged in Martian studies as well as those interested in the origin of life in other environments. It will be a valuable reference for anyone who uses data from the Mars Science Laboratory. Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 170/1-4, 2012.

Prof. John Grotzinger received his B.S. from Hobart College in 1979, his M.S. from the University of Montana in 1981, and his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1985. He has been a Visiting Associate Professor at Caltech since 1996 and a was deemed a Moore Distinguished Scholar in 2004 and a Jones Professor in 2005. Dr. Grotzinger’s research interests include sedimentology, stratigraphy, geobiology and ancient surface processes on Earth and Mars.

Dr. Ashwin Vasavada received his B.S. in Geophysics and Space Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1992 and his Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the California Institute of Technology in 1998. His research interests include geologic studies of Mars, atmospheric dynamics of Jupiter and Saturn, and stability and distribution of polar volatiles on Mercury and the Moon.

Professor C. T. Russell is a member of the faculties of both the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics and the Department of Earth and Space Sciences. He is acting System-wide Director of IGPP. He is the head of the Space Physics Center in IGPP, UCLA and the Director of the UCLA Branch of the California Space Grant Consortium. He is the principal investigator on the POLAR mission; a co-investigator on the magnetometer team on the Cassini mission to Saturn; the ROMAP investigation on the Rosetta mission to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko; the IMPACT investigation on the STEREO mission to study solar and solar wind disturbances; the THEMIS mission to study substorms; and the magnetometer investigation on the Venus Express mission to study the solar wind interaction with Venus.