NASA to hold Mars landing 'social' event

NASA says 25 lucky followers of the space agency will be invited to attend a NASA event to coincide with the upcoming landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. The NASA Social event will offer people who engage with NASA through Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other social networks the opportunity to tour the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., meet scientists and engineers, participate in news conferences and, if all goes as planned, be at the media site when the first signal of the rover's landing is detected by JPL mission control, a NASA release said Tuesday. The Curiosity rover will land at Mars' Gale Crater Aug. 6 at approximately 1:31 a.m. EDT for a two-year mission to investigate whether the selected area of Mars offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life or if evidence of it existed. Registration for the NASA Social event will open at noon EDT Wednesday, June 6, and close at noon EDT Friday, June 8. NASA said it will randomly select 25 participants from online registrations.