NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT), Aug. 14, to provide a status update on the Curiosity rover’s mission to Mars’ Gale Crater.

The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered Curiosity to its target area on Mars at 1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5). Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., spent last week beginning initial checks of Curiosity’s 10 instruments and updating software for its two-year mission to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.

For teleconference dial-in information, reporters must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Elena Mejia at elena.mejia@jpl.nasa.gov or call the JPL media office at 818-354-5011.

Audio of the event will be streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about NASA’s Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl