Atlas V 541 | MSL (Curiosity)
United Launch Alliance · Atlas V 541 · Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
United Launch Alliance's 57th launch · 11th this year · humanity's 5,179th orbital launch attempt
The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).
Window: Nov 26, 15:02 – Nov 26, 15:02 UTC
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MSL (Curiosity)
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.
Robotic Exploration · Mars Orbit (Mars)
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News
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4954–4960: Celebrating Our Rover Engineers Past and Present
Written by Lucy Thompson, Senior Research Scientist, University of New Brunswick, Canada Earth planning date: Friday, July 27, 2026 As an APXS uplink lead and strategic planner, I have the privilege of working with the rover engineers most days that I am on operations. The APXS instrument measures the chemistry of rocks, unconsolidated materials and […]
Curiosity Finds Evidence of an Ancient Sandstorm
Description Billions of years ago, an hours-long Martian sandstorm blew so intensely that sand ripples began to climb upon one another as they moved across the surface. These layers of sediment eventually hardened into the multilayered rocks seen in this image, which was taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover on Dec. 12, 2024, the 4,391st Martian […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4947-4953: Gale Crater Then and Now
Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University, Toronto Earth planning date: Friday, July 10, 2026 Curiosity had a successful long weekend and came into this week ready to explore some more. We’ve been moving fairly rapidly through different mapped “units,” or distinct geological areas of interest, visiting a different one at each of […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4941-4947: (Pin)Stripes on the Fourth of July
Written by Deborah Padgett, MSL Operations Product Ground System Task Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Thursday, July 2, 2026 Curiosity spent the week leading up to the Fourth of July holiday approaching a geologic boundary between a very smooth but somewhat sandy region and a rougher bedrock unit. Leaving the polygonal […]
Curiosity Sees Martian Sulfur Up Close
This close-up view shows fragments of sulfur crystals — the first ever seen on the Red Planet. The crystals were found after NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover happened to drive over a rock and crush it on May 30, 2024. Several days later, Curiosity used a camera on the end of its robotic arm to take […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4934-4940: In the Land of the Polygons
Written by William Farrand, Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute Earth planning date: Friday, June 26, 2026 There were two planning cycles over this span of sols. The Monday planning took place with Curiosity situated within a unit that from orbital imagery appeared light-toned, and from earlier rover positions appeared smooth. Reaching this unit, the […]
Pad — Space Launch Complex 41
Local pad time: Nov 26, 10:02 AM EST
125 launches from this pad · 1,122 from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
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