1. Mission Update: August 4, 2012

2. The Odyssey Spacecraft
Odyssey space craft is operating normally. During EDL, It will operate in ‘Bent pipe’ mode, relaying data from Curiosity back to Earth in real time, during and approximately 5 minutes after landing. It will also pass over head at 12:30 am Pacific time, and then on Monday August 6 at 11:30 a.m. Pacific.

3. The “Eye of the Needle”
A graphic describing the ‘eye of the needle’, which is Curiosity’s trajectory to the surface. The dot within the box depicts where in the “box” the spacecraft will pass. The box is 3 km wide x 12 km long.
As of 9:30 a.m. Saturday August 4, the space craft is about 4.5 million km away from Mars. It will have traveled 560 million km from Earth.

4. Mars Scoreboard
Scoreboard of all Earth mission sent to Mars – Mars has been winning. The global success rate is 40%.

5. August 6th Communication Opportunities
The planned orbital passes of both the Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiters on Monday August 6. Data returns are possible for all 3 orbital passes. The rover MAY be able to communicate directly to Earth no earlier than 5:30 p.m. Pacific time.

6. Early Surface Planned Activities
In a nominal landing, these are the planned activities for the rover. The next slide will show which images are possible after these deployments.

7. Early Surface Planned Products
These are images that are possible in the nominal scenario. They will be released at daily briefings each day. The first images will be low resolution thumbnail images taken by the rear hazcams through a clear dust cover. The hazcam dust covers will be removed on August 6 and the front and rear haz cams will take pictures. The first low res thumbnails from the MARDI, or the decent imager will start coming on Tuesday Aug 7, followed by the first color image from the MAHLI camera, located on the arm. By August 9 the mast will have been deployed and we can expect a partial panorama from the nav cam. All of this is subject to the state of the rover on the ground!

8. Planned Surface Activities
Good reasons to follow this mission throughout the fall! Curiosity has plenty to do in the landing ellipse as well as on her way to Mount Sharp.

9. Mars weather report
A dust storm to the south noted earlier in the week will not reach Gale and will not affect landing. Water ice clouds over Mars are a good sign. Ice clouds signal a cold atmosphere that is free of dust. A warner atmosphere could lead to more dust storms. The last pre-landing weather report will be studied Sunday morning, August 5.