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After Mariner 4's launch in 1964 it collected photos and other data about the surface of mars that contributed valueble information pertaining to curiositys final landing site decision
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Viking 1 was launched, and used to take high resolution pictures of the Mars landscape, search for evidence of life, and characterize the structure and composition of mars' atmosphere.
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The launch date of the mars rover; Spirit. Which led the way to the idea of a much more complicated rover, Curiosity.
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The twin mars rover to Spirit. Opprotunity landed three weeks after Spirit, but on the opposite side of the planet.
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Nasa begins research for a mobile lab on mars that is completely unmaned, solicits equitment from both Russia and spain. It is the beggining of curiosity
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Liftoff was delayed to November of 2011 due to insufficent time for testing and intergation.
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After five landing workshops (where they have meetings to decide where to land curiosity) they finally decided to land in Gale crater.
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The Mars Rover "Curiosity" was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:02 AM. It was launched in an Atlas V rocket
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Broke through mars' atmosphere. event was recieved on earth at 10:24:33.8 PM. Curiosity is moving at 5,800 m/s when entering mars' atmosphere.
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parachute deploys in mars atmosphere. parachutes suspension lines are made of Technora; which has a tan color. The parachute reduces curiositys speed to 470m/s.
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After passing through the atmosphere safely, and slowing its speed, its heat shield and parachute are released and the jets are activated. By now, curiosity is going around 160 m/s.
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eight throttleable retrorockets fired on the descent stage. These retrorockets were called Mars Landing Engines (MLE)
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Right before lowering Curiosity; four of the eight rockets shut down. At an altitued of 70 feet, Curiosity is lowered on the end of a 25 foot long tether. it will then slowly be lowered to mars at a rate of 1.5 mph until touchdown. then curiosity will sense "weight on weels" and sever the cables connecting it, and the descent stage will fly away 500 or more feet away.
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After Curiositys many instrument checks and mobility checks; its first real drive was to a place called Glenelg about 400 m to the east.
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The future launch of MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volitile Evolution mission, which will orbit mars and provide first of its kind information about the climate and habitability of mars. Furthur expanding our knowledge of Mars.
