Mars Science Laboratory Launches
December 5, 2011
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) was successfully launched on 26 November 2011 from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas V rocket. SESDA II engineering staff are playing a critical role in achieving the science objectives of this ambitious mission through their development and ongoing support of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument payload onboard the MSL. The instrument suite consists of a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS), a Gas Chromatograph (GC), and a Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) which will be transported across the Martian surface on the Curiosity rover. Working together, these instruments are designed to investigate the habitability of Mars by searching for and analyzing organic compounds and carbon-oxygen isotopes in the Martian soil, rocks, and atmosphere. (Image credit: NASA).
