NASA To Host Curiosity Rover Update Teleconference Aug. 17

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Aug 16, 2012, 02:29 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Friday, Aug. 17, to provide a status update on the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater.

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Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., are checking out Curiosity's subsystems and 10 instruments. Curiosity is in the opening days of a two-year mission to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.

Mission team members are "living" on Mars time. A Martian day is approximately 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, meaning team members start their shift 40 minutes later each day. The scheduling of this teleconference and other Curiosity media events is determined by their availability.

For teleconference dial-in information, reporters must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Elena Mejia at [email protected] or call the JPL Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011.

Audio of the event will be streamed live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

Visuals will be available at the start of the teleconference at:

http://go.nasa.gov/curiositytelecon

For more information about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/msl

and

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

SOURCE NASA