The mission will fly on a Atlas V 541 configuration to propel MSL on a half-year journey to the red planet, LM said in a statement. Scheduled for launch in the fall of 2009, the Volkswagen-sized rover will land on the surface of Mars in spring 2010 and begin what is planned as a two-year mission.

Boosting the 7,900-pound MSL and its accompanying mission package into a Mars transfer trajectory will require the Atlas V 541, the LM statement continued. The rocket is similar to the Atlas V 551 that launched NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto last January.

The 541 configuration includes four strap-on solid rocket boosters, each of which adds an additional 300,000 pounts of thrust to the almost 1 million pounds provided by the core vehicle's RD-180 engine.

The Atlas V 541 also will utilize a 5-meter fairing to protect the MSL payload on the ascent. After the boost phase of flight has been completed, the Centaur upper stage will perform two engine burns to place MSL into a Mars transfer trajectory.

An Atlas V also launched NASA's most recent Mars mission, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, in August 2005. It arrived at Mars last March and is executing a series of orbit-lowering maneuvers prior to beginning its primary science mission later this year. The MRO will help determine the landing site for MSL, and later will serve as a communication relay for MSL after the lab lands on the Martian surface.

"After launching both of these spacecraft on Atlas, it will be very rewarding to see them working together on and around Mars," said Vernon Thorp, Atlas program manager for NASA mission at Lockheed Martin. "Atlas's performance and reliability help make missions like these possible."

NASA awarded the MSL launch to LM under the terms of a launch-services contract signed in 2000. The agreement was designed to be the primary way for NASA to procure launch services on the Atlas vehicle through 2010.

Atlas V vehicles have achieved 100 percent mission success in eight flights, and Atlas II, III and V configurations have achieved 79 consecutive one-at-a-time launch successes since 1993, LM's statement said.

Last March, NASA also selected LM to design the aeroshell system for the MSL mission. The company will design and build the system, which includes the composite load carrying structure and the thermal protection systems. The blunt-nosed cone will encapsulate and protect the MSL rover from the intense head and friction generated as the system descends through the Martin atmosphere.

Atlas boosters and Centaur upper stages are built by LM Space Systems Company in Denver; Harlingen, Texas, and San Diego, Calif. Atlas launch operations are conducted at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

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