Curiosity Stuck the Landing!

After posting the Curiosity Round-Up last night, it was amazing to watch the events of the landing unfold.  We landed a mini-cooper sized robot on Mars by lowering it down by a rocket-propelled Sky Crane, and then it started sending back images!  It was an amazing feat.


Someone posted this today on about a billion websites:



I enjoyed watching the Virtual Landing Party, a Hangout on Air, hosted by Fraser Cain of Universe Today, which featured a number of astronomers discussing the events.

This stunning image is IMO the best so far returned from Curiosity, as it shows 2 of the rover's wheels, its shadow, and Mt. Sharp, Curiosity's target area, in the background.


One of my favorites, however, is this one sent back by the Mars Reconassaince Orbiter, which has been in orbit around Mars for the past 6 years, taking images of the Martian surface.  Here it captured Curiosity on the way down with the parachute deployed, as well as Curiosity's heat shield, still in descent, after it was shed from the space craft.



And finally, can't miss today's xkcd:


Way to stick the landing, NASA!  There ought to be a dozen gold medals for this one.

Curiosity Round-Up

Tonight, we humans are attempting to land the biggest & most amazing space robot ever on Mars.  If landing goes well, this will be a tremendous achievement.

For starters, Curiosity is GIANT compared to previous Mars rovers.


It was 15 years ago that the first rover, Sojourner, landed, and 8 years ago that Spirit and Opportunity landed.  Opportunity has just finished up another Martian winter and is revving up for another great season of discovery.  Curiosity will have more tools, cooler tech, & bigger guns.  Spirit & Oppy were like geologists with hammers & hand lenses.  Curiosity is more like a geochemist, a mobile analytical laboratory.  More on the 3 generations of Mars rovers here.

The descent down to the surface is the part where problems might occur, which is why so many are talking about it and paying attention tonight.  It should land within the next half an hour!  If you haven't seen it yet, watch this NASA JPL video to see what it takes to land a robot the size of a dune buggy on another planet.



Today, CNN ran a story on Scott Maxwell, a guy who drives these rovers around.  What a cool job!

Even a couple of celebrities from Star Trek fame have gotten in on the fun.  Watch William Shatner & Wil Wheaton welcome Curiosity to the surface of Mars.

Finally, get your own Curiosity at 1:64 scale.

We're about 15 minutes to touchdown, so I'd better post this and get to watching the show!