Good luck Curiosity, "seven minutes of terror" lie ahead
An artist's rendering provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows a "sky crane" lowering the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars. After traveling 8 1/2 months and 352 million miles, Curiosity will attempt a landing on Mars on Sunday night. (Aug. 4, 2012) Credit: AP
More mysteries of Mars may soon be revealed if a U.S. spacecraft touches down safely early Monday (Eastern time) after a journey of more than eight months.
The nuclear-powered rover, dubbed Curiosity, will send photos back to Earth -- on a 13.8-minute delay -- as it scoots along the Red Planet's surface, transmitting both panoramic and microscopic images. That will enable scientists to examine millions of years of Martian geology in the search for evidence of past or present habitability. The $2.5-billion project, NASA's most expensive and ambitious mission, could revive the nation's interest in space exploration.
The size of a car, the rover is hurtling through space at 13,000 mph, but then it must slam on the brakes to float down on a huge parachute, and then cushioned by rockets, for the last seven minutes. Nail that landing!
