Mars "Curiosity" Rover Program
Saturday, October 6, 9 a.m.
Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center

Use your 3D glasses and scroll to the bottom of this page to get the full effect of these Mars Rover images, and plan to join us on Saturday, October 6 for an exciting, educational, and entertaining program.

Learn about the science behind the Mars Rover and the study of its findings with alumni members of the team: Kobie Boykins ’96, Staff Mechanical Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Laurie Leshin – Dean, Rensselaer School of Science and member of the Curiosity Rover Science Team; Michael Meyer ’74, Lead Scientist, NASA's Mars Exploration Program; and Frederick Serricchio ’94, Senior Staff Engineer, NASA.

Kobie Boykins ’96 Started his career at JPL in 1995. He served as the MER Solar Array CogE and continued on to work as Assembly Test and Launch Operations engineer on both Spirit and Opportunity. Kobie has multiple pieces of hardware in space. On MSL he was responsible for the actuators that move the pieces of Curiosity.

Laurie Leshin Dean Leshin joined NASA in 2005 as director of science and exploration at the Goddard Space Flight Center. As head of the largest science organization in NASA, she was responsible for strategic management and organization of 550 scholars and support staff in fields ranging from high-energy astrophysics to climate change.

Michael A. Meyer ’74 The lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Oversees the program's science operations and planning. Previously, he was NASA's senior scientist for astrobiology and program scientist for the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission.

Fred Serricchio ’94 Responsible for Cruise Flight software, using sun and stars to figure out where Curiosity is pointed. Also involved with Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) Navigation filter Flight software, which uses various information to correct Curiosity’s position and velocity. The information helps steer the craft on the right path to a safe landing.

More RED Planet Fun from NASA
The Rover is set to land August 6!! Check out NASA's "Be a Martian" app for iPhone, iPad, and iTouch, which lets you experience Mars as if you were there! If you have xbox, you can play Mars Rover Landing with xbox kinect. And Spacecraft 3D is a cool augmented reality (AR) application that lets you learn about and interact with a variety of spacecraft.

Click here to see more images of the Mars Rover, courtesy of NASA, and more information about Curiosity is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl or http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

Mars Science Laboratory Mission's Curiosity Rover This image was taken May 26, 2011, in Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The rover was shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on June 22, 2011 for launch during the period Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, 2011. The rover Curiosity is expected to land on Mars in August 2012. Researchers will use tools on Curiosity to study whether the landing region has had environmental conditions favorable for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life existed. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Curiosity Rover and its Rocket-Powered Descent Vehicle NASA's Curiosity rover and its rocket-powered descent vehicle pose for a portrait at JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing on Mars, the rover will investigate whether Gale Crater ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Test Image of Earth Rocks by Mars Camera This stereo view of terrestrial rocks combines two images taken by a testing twin of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory. It appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.  MAHLI is mounted at the end of the robotic arm of the mission's rover, Curiosity. Unlike the engineering cameras on Curiosity, MAHLI is not a stereo imager combining side-by-side cameras. However, by taking one image, moving the arm a little, then taking another, researchers can obtain stereo pairs of MAHLI images providing three-dimensional information. The MAHLI life test unit, a duplicate MAHLI flight unit on Curiosity, took the stereo pair used in this view. The rocks at upper right and lower right are rhyolite. The one at upper left is basalt. The one at bottom left is sandstone. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Mars Science Laboratory Launches NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, sealed inside its payload fairing atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, clears the tower at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.The mission lifted off at 10:02 a.m. EST (7:02 a.m. PST), Nov. 26, beginning an eight-month interplanetary cruise to Mars. The spacecraft's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and to help determine if this gas is from a biological or geological source. Image Credit: United Launch Alliance

Head of Mast on Mars Rover Curiosity This view of the head of the remote sensing mast on the Mars Science Laboratory mission's rover, Curiosity, shows seven of the 17 cameras on the rover. Two pairs of Navigation cameras (Navcams), among the rover's 12 engineering cameras, are the small circular apertures on either side of the head. On the top are the optics of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) investigation, which includes a laser and a telescopic camera. The Mast Camera (MastCam) instrument includes a 100-millimeter-focal-length camera called MastCam-100 or M-100, and a 34-millimeter-focal-length camera called the MastCam-34 or M-34. The two cameras of the MastCam are both scientific and natural color imaging systems. The M-100 looks through a 1.2-inch (3-centimeter) baffle aperture, and the M-34 looks through a 2.1-inch (5.3-centimete) baffle aperture. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built MastCam and two other cameras on Curiosity. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.