The largest solar particle event since 2005 has been detected by the radiation- monitoring instrument aboard the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, on its way from Earth to Mars. The Radiation Assessment Detector, inside the mission's Curiosity rover tucked inside the spacecraft, is measuring the radiation exposure that could affect a human astronaut on a potential Mars mission. It has measured an increase resulting from a Jan. 22 solar storm observed by other NASA spacecraft. No harmful effects to the Mars Science Laboratory have been detected from this solar event.

Remember this amazing image from 2008? The HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the Phoenix lander descending on a parachute to land on Mars’ north polar region. MRO will attempt a repeat performance in August of 2012 when the Mars Science Laboratory rover “Curiosity” will be landing in Gale Crater on Mars. Capturing this event would be epic, especially with MSL’s unique “skycrane” landing system. “Yes, MRO is planning to image the descent of MSL with both HiRISE and CTX (Context Camera),” Alfred McEwen, HiRISE principal investigator told Universe Today. “For Phoenix we got a bit lucky with HiRISE in terms of the geometry, giving us a high probability of success. It may not work out so well for MSL. What I’d really like is to capture the rover hanging from the skycrane, but the timing may be difficult.”

All NASA spacecraft sent to other planets must undergo meticulous procedures to make sure they don't carry biological contamination from Earth to their destinations. However, a step in these planetary protection measures wasn't adhered to for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, now en route to the Red Planet, SPACE.com has learned. The incident has become a lessons-learned example of miscommunication in assuring that planetary protection procedures are strictly adhered to.

NASA's Curiosity rover — a car-sized robot mounted on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket — successfully blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Saturday morning at 10:02 a.m. Its task: To determine if microbial alien life could, or ever did, exist on the Red Planet. Here's a look at Curiosity's ambitious and costly "long cruise to Mars," by the numbers:

Atlas V roars off the launch pad sending NASA's next Mars rover toward the Red Planet.

NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory rover, the most complex and scientifically powerful robotic spacecraft ever built to explore the surface of another world, is poised for launch Saturday on a high-stakes mission to look for organic compounds and signs of past or present habitability.

Redmond rocket scientist Jon Schierberl's work has landed on Mars six times before. Yet he's still excited enough that he flew to Florida with his extended family very early Thanksgiving morning to witness the planned Saturday launch of a new robotic rover headed for Mars. Small rocket engines designed, built and tested by his team at Aerojet in Redmond will steer the delivery spacecraft on its journey and guide the rover to its touchdown on the planet's surface. "I've built rockets that have gone to every planet in the solar system, and that includes Pluto," said Schierberl, the company's program manager for small rocket engines. With the help of an array of 36 of Schierberl's rocket engines, the new robotic rover — NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, dubbed Curiosity — should reach Mars in about 8 ½ months.

It's launch week for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), scheduled for liftoff Nov. 26 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The one hour and 43 minute launch window opens at 10:02 a.m. EST. The MSL spacecraft, including the rover Curiosity, is sealed within the protective payload fairing atop the rocket, which is inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. On Wednesday, officials will gather for the Launch Readiness Review, followed by a prelaunch news conference at 1 p.m. EST.

Nasa’s most advanced mobile robotic laboratory, which will examine one of the most intriguing areas on Mars, is in final preparations for a launch from Florida's Space Coast on November 25. The Mars Science Laboratory mission will carry Curiosity, a rover with more scientific capability than any ever sent to another planet. It will set down inside a huge crater and use its highly advanced instruments, including cameras and lasers, to find out more about the planet’s environment, which will help pave the way for human missions. Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at Nasa Headquarters in Washington, said: ‘Mars Science Laboratory builds upon the improved understanding about Mars gained from current and recent missions. ‘This mission advances technologies and science that will move us toward missions to return samples from, and eventually send humans to, Mars.’

News conference participants are: -- Doug McCuistion, director, Mars Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington -- Ashwin Vasavada, Mars Science Laboratory deputy project scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. -- Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager, JPL

The Mars Science Laboratory, a sophisticated rover designed to assess conditions for life on Mars, was moved to its Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch pad on Thursday and hoisted atop an Atlas 5 rocket in preparation for liftoff Thanksgiving weekend. The $2.5 billion spacecraft, nicknamed Curiosity, is expected to arrive at the Red Planet in August 2012. Its landing site is Gale Crater, a large impact crater with a 3-mile high mountain rising from its floor.

NASA's flagship Mars rover was encased in a protective aerodynamic shell this week in preparation for its move to the launch pad next week. The Mars Science Laboratory, nicknamed Curiosity, is targeted to blast off at 10:25 a.m. Nov. 25 -- the day after Thanksgiving -- from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas V rocket. The compact car-sized rover, the biggest yet bound for the Red Planet, is scheduled to be hoisted on a transporter Tuesday and rolled from Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to Launch Complex 41 overnight Wednesday.