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Mission record

Mars Science Laboratory

Also known as MSL, MSL Curiosity, Curiosity

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · Launched

Explore trajectory

Active · Active

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), nicknamed Curiosity, is a large rover with the objective of exploring the martian environment as a former or current habitat for life. The rover is a six wheeled vehicle approximately 2.8 meters in length with a mass of over 750 kg, powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. It landed in Gale Crater on 6 August 2012, a site chosen for its potential as a former or current habitat for life. NASA's mission page, fetched on 2026-09-02, lists it as an Active Mission.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Atlas V
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Rover

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on an Atlas V 541

    Mars Science Laboratory launched on 26 November 2011 at 15:02 UT on an Atlas V 541 into a circular Earth parking orbit, and the launch/orbital information page gives the same instant as 2011-11-26T15:02:00Z. The master catalog page glosses that instant as 10:52 a.m. EST, an hour label that does not match the 15:02 UT printed beside it; the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved and the committed value is the UT one both NSSDCA pages print. The committed launch vehicle is the Facts in Brief value Atlas V, and the fuller Atlas V 541 the page's own text prints is recorded here.

    Earth

  2. Landing

    Lowered to the surface in Gale Crater on a tether

    After leaving Earth orbit and completing an 8 month cruise, MSL reached Mars in August 2012. Retrorockets were used in the final phase of the descent, ending with the rover being lowered to the surface from the descent stage on a tether. Touchdown occured at 05:32 UTC (1:32 EDT) on 6 August. The launch/orbital information page prints Decay Date: 2012-08-06 for a rover that landed on that day, which is the fourth NSSDCA launch/orbital page in this batch to print a date under a heading that does not describe it; the master catalog page is what this record follows. NASA's mission page prints the pair as Launch / Landing Nov. 26, 2011 / Aug. 6, 2012. After a checkout period, the rover made its first drive on 22 August; that day is not a committed event because no page cited here prints its year beside it, and this catalog does not commit a date it would have to assemble from two sentences.

    Mars

  3. Milestone

    A 1 kilometer elevation gain on Mount Sharp

    NASA's Curiosity Mars rover reached the pinnacle - so far - of its 14-year-old mission on Aug. 26, 2026, when it marked an elevation gain of 1 kilometer in its journey from Gale Crater on Mars up the slope of Mount Sharp. That page, fetched on 2026-09-02, is what supports this record's active status; NSSDCA's page is older and describes the nominal one martian year mission rather than the current one.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Curiosity · Rover

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 2, 2026