Before the launch, Jeff Barnes, Professor in OSU's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, described his excitement at being part of the project: "The Mars Science Laboratory is one of the most robust space vehicles ever built, but there will still be a lot of tension until we know the landing was a good one."
The atmospheric model of Mars was created by Barnes and OSU research associate Dan Tyler as a sontinuation of their previous research on the Red Planet. Both researchers worked on the Phoenix mission which landed on the planet in 2008, and Barnes has had an extensive career dating back to the historic Viking mission which launched in 1975.
With OSU contributing heavily to NASA's missions, Amy McGowan, Centre Director for INTO OSU believes students are now paying attention to the university as a potential study option. She said: "We are so thrilled about OSU's involvement in something as exciting as the recent Mars landing. This kind of ground-breaking research at the University not only inspires our students here in the centre, it also helps strengthen our profile on a global scale."