MSL "Go" for Nov. 25 Launch

NASA and contractor managers for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) launch held their Flight Readiness Review meeting at NASA's Kennedy Space Center this morning. After an evaluation of the MSL spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, managers gave a "go" to continue proceeding toward a liftoff at 10:25 a.m. EST next Friday, Nov. 25. Managers will meet again Nov. 22 for the Launch Readiness Review.

The spacecraft -- with its rover, Curiosity -- is sealed inside the protective payload fairing atop the Atlas V rocket, which stands inside the Vertical Integration Facility at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41. Closeouts of the spacecraft and the Atlas V fairing are planned for Saturday, with a countdown dress rehearsal on Sunday's schedule.

Curiosity has 10 science instruments to search for evidence about whether Mars has had environments favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release the gasses so that its spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth.

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Launches to Jupiter

NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:25 a.m. PDT (12:25 p.m. EDT) Friday to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter. Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter's origin and evolution. As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars.

"Today, with the launch of the Juno spacecraft, NASA began a journey to yet another new frontier," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The future of exploration includes cutting-edge science like this to help us better understand our solar system and an ever-increasing array of challenging destinations." After Juno's launch aboard an Atlas V rocket, mission controllers now await telemetry from the spacecraft indicating it has achieved its proper orientation, and that its massive solar arrays, the biggest on any NASA deep-space probe, have deployed and are generating power.

"We are on our way, and early indications show we are on our planned trajectory," said Jan Chodas, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We will know more about Juno's status in a couple hours after its radios are energized and the signal is acquired by the Deep Space Network antennas at Canberra."