Mars Science Lab Launches

The new Mars Science Lab successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center on Saturday morning:

The Curiosity rover will spend 8.5 months en route to Mars. Once it's entered the Martian atmosphere, Curiosity will land with a novel landing system featured in the MSL Trailer produced by NASA:

The sky crane system is brand new. The Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on Mars in 2003 using an airbag system that worked perfectly. Why not use the same, proven method for Curiosity?

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/228936main_rover-metric.jpg

The new rover is significantly bigger and heavier than the MER's. The previous rovers were roughly the size of a golf cart, while Curiosity is about the size of Mini Cooper. What's in all that extra space? Some pretty cool science instruments.
Curiosity will use its suite of onboard instruments to examine rocks, drill into surfaces, and bring samples on board for analysis. As the mission progresses, we'll go into more detail about the amazing science the rover will allow us to do from Earth.
MSL isn't the only interplanetary mission en route to its destination at the moment; Juno, New Horizons, and the ongoing Dawn mission are all headed out from Earth. Check back in for updates as all the missions progress.