NASA hosts live Curiosity update; watch it here
Streaming video by Ustream NASA will share the latest news from Mars and its Curiosity rover during a live teleconference at 11:30 a.m. PDT and you can watch it here.
Participating will be Jim Erickson, the project manager for the Curiosity mission; Joy Crisp, a deputy project scientist; and Joe Melko, sampling activity lead. All three scientists work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.
The rover is just 10 months into its two-year mission to investigate the area inside the Mars’ Gale crater, NASA officials say, but already it has accomplished many of its original goals, including finding evidence of ancient environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.
PHOTOS: See Curiosity’s images from Mars
In the months since the rover survived its “seven minutes of terror” and landed safely on the red planet, it has already discovered rounded rocks that provide evidence of an ancient stream bed on the planet, helped scientists determine how much radiation an astronaut would have to endure on a trip to Mars, and sent back plenty of pictures of itself and its surroundings.
It also got to take a one-month break when the sun came between the Earth and Mars, making it impossible to contact the rover.
To find out what’s next for the Mars rover, tune in at 11:30.
