Charles “Chuck” Tatro is a mission manager with the Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He currently manages launch vehicle mission integration teams supporting the James Webb Space Telescope, MAVEN and GOES R & S. His recent mission experience also includes LRO-LCROSS and Pluto-New Horizons.

Before transitioning to the unmanned rocket world, he was lead engineer for space shuttle orbiter thermal protection systems and Endeavour.

Chuck began his NASA career at Glenn (Lewis) Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was part of the NASA team that designed the space station solar power system.

Chuck will be presenting his talk on the upcoming landing of the Mars rover, Curiosity, scheduled to land August 6. Utilizing the Science On A Sphere station, he’ll be able to refer to the Gale Crater on the Red Planet’s surface, the targeted landing spot for the rover. The presentation is at 3 p.m. in the Our Planet, Our Universe exhibit on the 4th floor. He’ll also conduct a question-and-answer session following the presentation.

MARS ROVER CURIOSITY:

  NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission is preparing to set down a large, mobile laboratory — the rover Curiosity — using precision landing technology that makes many of Mars’ most intriguing regions viable destinations for the first time.

Its assignment: investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.

Chuck is presenting at Science On A Sphere. This exhibit component connects guests of all ages to earth and space science through a dramatic visual presentation using a six-foot suspended sphere and state-of-the-art projection technology. Explore planets’ dynamic landscape and weather, tour the solar system and understand the complex relationship between our planet and its sister worlds.

The presentation is included in general admission to the Orlando Science Center, which costs $17 for adults and $12 for youth (ages 3-11). Tickets also provide access to all the Science Center’s films, exhibits and live programs.

For more information, please call 407.514.2000 or visit www.OSC.org. For more info on NASA’s Launch Services Program, please visit www.NASA.gov/offices/education/centers/kennedy/technology/LSP.html.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity – Robot Geologist and Chemist in One!

This artist’s concept features NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars’ past or present ability to sustain microbial life.

Curiosity will land near the Martian equator about 10:31 p.m., Aug. 5 PDT (1:31 a.m. Aug. 6 EDT).

In this picture, the rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover’s arm, which extends about 7 feet (2 meters). Two instruments on the arm can study rocks up close. A drill can collect sample material from inside of rocks and a scoop can pick up samples of soil. The arm can sieve the samples and deliver fine powder to instruments inside the rover for thorough analysis.

The mast, or rover’s “head,” rises to about 6.9 feet (2.1 meters) above ground level, about as tall as a basketball player. This mast supports two remote-sensing science instruments: the Mast Camera, or “eyes,” for stereo color viewing of surrounding terrain and material collected by the arm; and, the Chemistry and Camera instrument, which uses a laser to vaporize a speck of material on rocks up to about 23 feet (7 meters) away and determines what elements the rocks are made of.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

For more information about Curiosity is at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .