Talk:Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory

2012 Speculation - detection of organics ?
Deleted speculation on organics finding. NASA Plays Down Mars Speculation BatteryIncluded (talk) 15:23, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

media hype and the exact organics
[pp1] It was planned to use a fine grained sand most likely a dune to to clean out contamination from the sample scoop and the inlet system of Chemin and SAM. Rocknest was chosen to be this sand. X Scoops were taken and discarged. the following Y scoopes were analyses by the two rover internal instruments Chemnmin and SAM.

[pp2] On October 17, 2012 at Rocknest, the first X-ray diffraction analysis of Martian soil was performed. The results revealed the presence of several minerals, including feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine, and suggested that the Martian soil in the sample was similar to the weathered basaltic soils of Hawaiian volcanoes. The sample used is composed of dust distributed from global dust storms and local fine sand. So far, the materials Curiosity has analyzed are consistent with the initial ideas of deposits in Gale Crater recording a transition through time form a wet to dry environment.[78]

[pp3] In the following days 3 measurements with the SAM instrument were done. The relative complex nature of the instrument and data analysis delayed the publication of first results in the weekly press conferences. Rumors were fueled by an interview of the project scientist John Grotzinger and later by an interview of the director of JPL Charles Elachi.

[pp4] On November 22, 2012, the Curiosity rover analyzed a rock named "Rocknest 3" with the APXS and then resumed traveling toward "Point Lake" overlook on its way to Glenelg Intrique. On December 3, 2012, NASA reported that Curiosity performed its first extensive soil analysis, revealing the presence of water molecules, sulfur and chlorine in the Martian soil. The presence of perchlorates in the sample seems highly likely also the presence of sulfate and sulfide is likely because sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were detected. Small amounts of chloromethane dichloromethane and trichloromethane have been found. The source of the carbon in the mentioned molecules is unclear until now. Contamination of the instrument, organics in the sample and inorganic carbon like carbonates could be possible sources.

Should we change it to more like that?

--Stone (talk) 09:02, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
 * OK - added last sentences of noted [pp4] above to article (w/ some mods and wls & refs adds) re exact organics detected as follows =>


 * Copied from => Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory


 * On December 3, 2012, NASA reported that Curiosity performed its first extensive soil analysis, revealing the presence of water molecules, sulfur and chlorine in the Martian soil.  The presence of perchlorates in the sample seems highly likely; the presence of sulfate and sulfide is also likely because sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were detected. Small amounts of chloromethane, dichloromethane and trichloromethane were detected. The source of the carbon in these molecules is unclear. Possible sources include contamination of the instrument, organics in the sample and inorganic carbonates.


 * ok to rv/mv/ce of course - [pp2] seems the same as present? - flexible re [pp1] & [pp3] - open to further discussion? - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 18:03, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Exploring Martian Habitability in Science
FWIW - special issue of Science (journal) (January 24, 2014) about "Exploring Martian Habitability" has been published - see => < ref name="SCI-20140124special"> and/or < ref name="SCI-20140124"> - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 11:25, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
 * As expected, the information harvest will be massive. We could actually start a new article about the missions findings, as was done with the MER mission: Scientific information from the Mars Exploration Rover mission. --BatteryIncluded (talk) 12:59, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Spectral Analysis (SAM)
One EGA-plot is labeled as "Spectral Analysis (SAM)". Most people working with that type of plots avoid the spectrum word and use th word plot to avoid the question on "Where is the wavelength axis?" --Stone (talk) 20:06, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

NASA-TV/ustream (09/11/2014@1pm/et/usa) - Curiosity Rover - Future Studies.
NASA-TV/ustream (Thursday, 09/11/2014@1pm/et/usa) - Panel of experts to discuss the mission status and future science campaign of the Curiosity Rover => < ref name="NASA-20140909"> - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 11:33, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
 * FOLLOWUP - Space Experts Discuss the Curiosity Rover and Future Plans (a/o September 11, 2014) - Archived Discussion => Audio (62:44) and Visuals - AND - related NYT ref => < ref name="NYT-20140911"> - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 15:47, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

NASA-TV/ustream (12/8/2014@12noon/et/usa) - Curiosity Rover - Observations.
NASA-TV/ustream (Monday, December 8, 2014@12noon/et/usa) - Panel of experts to discuss the latest observations of the Curiosity Rover - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 01:00, 4 December 2014 (UTC)
 * FOLLOWUP - Space Experts Discuss the Curiosity Rover and Latest Observations (a/o December 8, 2014) - Archived Discussion => Audio (62:03) and Visuals - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 19:42, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

NASA-TV/ustream (9/28/2015@11:30am/et/usa) - Mars Mystery Solved.
NASA-TV/ustream (Monday, September 28, 2015@11:30am/et/usa) - NASA will detail a "Major Science Finding" about the planet Mars - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 00:56, 25 September 2015 (UTC)
 * BRIEF Followup - evidence presented that liquid water may be currently flowing on the planet Mars  (conference videos  and somewhat related Nature (journal) (1979) reference re lifeforms in hypersaline (and/or brine) water of Don Juan Pond, Antarctica ) - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 18:17, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

NASA Briefings/livestream (March 21 – 22, 2016) – Ceres, Mars, Pluto Results.
NASA Briefings/livestream – Experts to discuss the latest Ceres, Mars, Pluto results (near Houston, TX; March 21 – 22, 2016) - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 12:26, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

cruise phase problem?
Should the center of navigation problem written in "The Right Kind Of Crazy" be included? If so, what kind of links or citations should we add? I couldn't find a PDF version of the book online. Weijia Yu (talk) 12:36, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

New NASA video shows path from start
https://newatlas.com/curiosity-panorama-whole-journey/53212/ -- Green  C  20:35, 1 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your suggestion - may also like to view the related image/video (copied below) - as well as the related image/video at => Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 21:09, 1 February 2018 (UTC)



Where are planned future events
Should planned future events be covered here, or where ? eg. Here is planned route : Curiosity's Proposed Path up Mount Sharp NASA May 2019 - Rod57 (talk) 09:49, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Reorganizing Subheadings
Currently, the timeline is organized with yearly subheadings, i.e:

2012

[2012 events here]

2013

[2013 events here]

2014

[2014 events here]

...and so on.

The MSL mission can be broken up into a Prime Mission (2012-September 2014)(link to verify end of mission), First Extended Mission (Sep. 2014-Sep. 2016)(link to verify end of mission), Second Extended Mission (Sep. 2016-Oct. 2019) (link to verify end of mission), Third Extended Mission (Oct. 2019-Apr. 2022)(link to verify end of mission), and now the Fourth Extended Mission (Apr. 2022-Present).

I think it would be better for this article to be organized according to these missions rather than the year. Missions will be more thematically cohesive than years. Also, since this rover gets less attention these days, each of the yearly subheadings in later years is a stub.

Since this is a major structural change, I figured I should seek consensus first. (While major, it is an easy change - since I know the dates each mission started, all currently-written text would be preserved and just the locations/names of the headings would change)

AlliterativeAnchovies (talk) 17:46, 28 April 2022 (UTC)


 * It did not make sense to me for us to have a heading for every year now, given that each heading in recent years contained very little information. Thus, I have re-grouped the page to be based around the extended missions instead.  These can be grouped around a theme, so it makes sense to do so as well.
 * Given that I proposed this change a year ago, and there were no complaints then, I hope this will be alright now.
 * AlliterativeAnchovies (talk) 16:11, 4 June 2023 (UTC)