National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will host a media teleconference on January 15 at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST) to give an update on the Mars Curiosity rover mission at the planet's Gale crater. The Mars Science Laboratory Project and its Curiosity rover are conducting an important two-year mission to examine whether Mars conditions will allow microbial life on the planet.

According to the NASA web site, audio and visuals of the media conference will be available at the following links: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, handles the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Space is truly a vast place to set up communications satellites but during a period faced with financial problems, the NASA team was further challenged in rationalizing the expenses of their interplanetary mission.

When the Mars Curiosity rover successfully landed on the planet in 2012, the expedition not only became a scientific break but an opportunity for public relations as well. The Mars Curiosity rover launch was broadcasted through its personal Twitter feed account @Mars Curiosity.

"I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!" NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory social media team posted on the Twitter account upon entering planet Mars' atmosphere.

Meanwhile, millions of American viewers were able to experience a suspenseful Mars Curiosity rover descent online with the help of NASA's animation. NASA hired an animation studio to create a high-quality video of the Mars Curiosity rover's space journey. The 11-minute video rapidly grabbed the public's attention where it has already gathered almost 3 million views on YouTube since posted in June 2012.

The following links, http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, will provide more information regarding the NASA Curiosity mission.

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