United Launch AllianceAtlas V 541Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Atlas V 541 | MSL (Curiosity)
Countdown
No countdown — this launch time is not yet known to the minute.November 26, 2011 · 15:02 UTCAdd to calendar
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 4995-5001: 5,000 (Martian) Days on Mars
Written by William Farrand, Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 28, 2026 The span of sols spanned by this blog post is noteworthy in several ways. First, Curiosity became a world-class (for Mars at least) mountaineer by passing the 1 kilometer mark of elevation from its landing site on the floor […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4988-4994: More New Tricks for an Old Dog
Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 21, 2026 After Curiosity’s 14 years on the surface, Mars continues to surprise. Both of our workspaces this week contained features unlike quite anything we have seen in the past — broad, shallow pits (like the one in the image above) dotted […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4982–4987: Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming
By Allison Dries-Padilla, Missions Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 14, 2026 This week of Curiosity Mars rover operations takes us back to our “regularly scheduled programming.” After taking a slight detour to investigate the “erosional surface” we are back on course to ascend Mount Sharp. As we transition […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4975-4981: Happy 14th Landing Anniversary
By Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 7, 2026 This week was very special for the Curiosity team here on Earth as we celebrated the 14th landing anniversary. I still remember watching the buildup to the entry phase on “Eyes on the Solar System” […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4968-4974: Rock Climbing Towards the Discontinuity
Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Earth planning date: Friday, July 31, 2026 As mentioned in the previous blog, Curiosity has been exploring a large-scale feature in Gale’s sedimentary record suspected to be an “erosional supersurface.” The “supersurface” represents a period in time when a net depositional environment changed […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4961-4967: Approaching a Break in the Rock Record?
Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology Earth planning date: Friday, July 24, 2026 Curiosity spent the week continuing to climb her way up through the layers of Mount Sharp, exploring the sedimentary rock strip chart of Martian history. The rover has reached a layer where the science […]
Pad — Space Launch Complex 41
Local pad time: Nov 26, 10:02 AM EST
125 launches from this pad · 1,128 from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
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