Editing Mars Science Laboratory (section)

=== {{anchor|Landing site}} Landing site ===
{{Main|Bradbury Landing|Gale (crater)}}
[[Gale (crater)|Gale Crater]] is the MSL landing site.<ref name="Gale Crater3"/><ref name="Gale Crater"/><ref name="Gale Crater2"/> Within Gale Crater is a mountain, named [[Aeolis Mons]] ("Mount Sharp"),<ref name="NASA-20120328" /><ref name="Space-20120329" /><ref name="NASA-20120327">{{cite web |author=NASA Staff |title='Mount Sharp' on Mars Compared to Three Big Mountains on Earth |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia15292-Fig2.html |date=March 27, 2012 |publisher=[[NASA]] |access-date=March 31, 2012 |archive-date=May 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507134815/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia15292-Fig2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> of layered rocks, rising about {{convert|5.5|km|ft|abbr=on}} above the crater floor, that ''Curiosity'' will investigate. The landing site is a smooth region in "Yellowknife" ''Quad 51''<ref name="NASA-20120810">{{cite web |author=NASA Staff |title=Curiosity's Quad – IMAGE |url=http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4408 |date=August 10, 2012 |publisher=[[NASA]] |access-date=August 11, 2012|author-link=NASA }}</ref><ref name="NASA-20120809">{{cite web |last1=Agle |first1=DC |last2=Webster |first2=Guy |last3=Brown |first3=Dwayne |title=NASA's Curiosity Beams Back a Color 360 of Gale Crate |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120809.html |date=August 9, 2012 |publisher=[[NASA]] |access-date=August 11, 2012 |archive-date=June 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602033109/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120809.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="BBC-20120809">{{cite news |last=Amos |first=Jonathan |title=Mars rover makes first colour panorama |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19201742 |date=August 9, 2012 |newspaper=BBC News |access-date=August 9, 2012}}</ref><ref name="USA-20120809">{{cite news |last=Halvorson |first=Todd |title=Quad 51: Name of Mars base evokes rich parallels on Earth |url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012-08-09/mars-panorama-curiosity-quad-51/56922978/1 |date=August 9, 2012 |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |access-date=August 12, 2012}}</ref> of [[Aeolis Palus]] inside the crater in front of the mountain. The target landing site location was an elliptical area {{convert|20|by|7|km|abbr=on}}.<ref name=ellipse/> Gale Crater's diameter is {{convert|154|km|abbr=on}}.

The landing location for the rover was less than {{convert|2.4|km|abbr=on}} from the center of the planned landing ellipse, after a {{convert|350000000|mi|abbr=on|sigfig=3|order=flip}} journey.<ref name=cnn20120810>{{cite news |title='Impressive' Curiosity landing only 1.5 miles off, NASA says |url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/us/mars-curiosity/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn |date=August 14, 2012 |access-date=August 20, 2012}}</ref>  NASA named the rover landing site [[Bradbury Landing]] on sol {{age in sols|2012|8|6|2012|08|22}}, August 22, 2012.<ref name="NASA-20120822">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Dwayne |last2=Cole |first2=Steve |last3=Webster |first3=Guy |last4=Agle |first4=D.C. |title=NASA Mars Rover Begins Driving at Bradbury Landing |url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/aug/HQ_12-292_Mars_Bradbury_Landing.html |date=August 22, 2012 |publisher=[[NASA]] |access-date=August 22, 2012 |archive-date=November 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115041146/http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/aug/HQ_12-292_Mars_Bradbury_Landing.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to NASA, an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 heat-resistant [[bacterial spores]] were on ''Curiosity'' at launch, and as much as 1,000 times that number may not have been counted.<ref name="NYT-20151005-kc">{{cite news |last=Chang |first=Kenneth |title=Mars Is Pretty Clean. Her Job at NASA Is to Keep It That Way. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/science/mars-catharine-conley-nasa-planetary-protection-officer.html |date=October 5, 2015 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=October 6, 2015}}</ref>