Mars Curiosity roves toward rock named in honor of JPL engineer Matijevic

The Mars Rover Curiosity will soon start doing its first up-close science experiments on a Martian rock. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has named the rock “Jake Matijevic," after a JPL engineer who recently died.

Richard Cook is project manager for the current Mars Science Laboratory mission.

““He was a very instrumental rover engineer. He worked on a number of projects including led the Sojourner Rover team, worked on Spirit and Opportunity for a number of years."

Matijevic also worked on the Mars Science Laboratory mission He was 64 years old. An obituary in the Chicago Tribune said the JPL engineer died after a lifelong battle with asthma and other respiratory ailments.