Tomorrow marks 5 years since the Curiosity rover’s dramatic landing on the red planet! The rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite onboard Curiosity is the most complicated instrument NASA has ever sent to another planet. SAM is designed to measure the composition of the atmosphere and solid samples inside Gale Crater on Mars, and help scientists assess the habitability (could a certain place support life?) of environments recorded in in rocks in Gale Crater. The SAM team has made many amazing discoveries, including finding evidence of a habitable environment – a place that life (think tiny microorganisms, not dinosaurs) could have survived if it had been in that spot on Mars, millions of years ago. SAM also detected the first organics (building blocks of life) on Mars, known to have originated on this planet. We’re a group of scientists and engineers from the SAM team, ready to answer your questions about Mars and SAM. We’ll be online from 1:00 to 2:00 pm EST and we will sign our answers. Ask us anything! Paul Mahaffy, SAM Principle Investigator, Director of Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Charles Malespin, SAM Deputy Principle Investigator, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Jen Stern, Planetary Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center James Lewis, Postdoctoral Fellow, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Brad Sutter, Planetary Scientist, NASA Johnson Space Flight Center Greg Flesch, Instrument Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Peter Martin, PhD student, CalTech/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Doug Archer, Planetary Scientist/NASA Johnson Space Center We have now been on Mars for 5 years - WOW. The first year after landing we actually played the Happy Birthday song using our SSIT (solid sample inlet tube). You may find this link interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVVgBAosqg EDIT It has been great answering your questions, we are signing off now!