Curiosity Rover's Peculiar Mars Landing Described

Animated chronicle of the Mars Science Laboratory touchdown on the red planet and the science it will perform. Credit: NASA/JPL - To View More Videos About the NEW MARS ROVER - Go to: http://www.space.com/13607-curiosity-suv-mars-rovers.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• mars science laboratory
• curiosity
• mars
• landing
• deployment
• science
• instruments
• lasers
• red planet
• mars video
• animation
• space video
• space videos
• video

[skadar]

This landing sequence is MUCH too complex!  Who green-lighted this hack job? What happened to the spirit of simplicity that fostered the success of the last rover team?

[VideoFromSpace]

@skadar But what will you say if they succeed? Let's talk again on August 7th, 2012.

[quadpod]

In a couple of years we went from tossing a bouncy ball with a rover inside to a rocket crane lowering a nuclear powered science lab and to think what would come sooner if NASA's budget was larger...

[VideoFromSpace]

@quadpod Or if the science budget had been properly managed; or if we hadn't spent so much effort employing an army to send a few humans to LEO a few times a year; or if...

[gbarnes4401]

Very cool, hopefully everything goes ok. I've always wondered about weather. Can it handle a violent martian storm?

[VideoFromSpace]

@gbarnes4401 The Martian atmosphere is so thin, even the strongest storms don't have much force compared with those in Earth's atmosphere. Curiosity's ancestors, Spirit & Opportunity, found that the occasional passing dust devil would, in fact, clear their solar panels of dust, leaving them more efficient. And the low Martian temperatures are better for digital cameras than average Earth temps. Turns out Mars is a pretty nice place to be a robot.

[allseriousness]

WHY SO GLITCHY

[ANDSENS]

@skadar Try a little research before criticizing. From wikipedia: [..] the atmosphere is too thin for parachutes and aerobraking alone to be effective.[97] Although some previous missions have used airbags to cushion the shock of landing, the MSL is too large for this to be an option.

[carl0sgs]

What could possibly go wrong in the landing? :D

[Thermagicalwonders]

Cool. But I can just see it now...War of the Worlds- Part Two.

[Filo127]

forever alone.

[mhyar]

@skadar The Spirit landing technique can’t handle the weight of Curiosity. This new technique have been tested many times and it works

[DevilGTP97]

@skadar curiosity is much heavier then the last and we cant deploy, "air bags" to cushion its landing.

[psycotria]

@skadar - Over 50 pyro-bolts had to blow to release MER A/B. While this too is complex, thorough testing & design procedures should see this successfully on the surface of Mars, ready to AMAZE!

[dantopa]

@skadar The opinions of a professional kibitzer, while colorful, lack the value of the opinions of a professional engineer.

If it will help, you should patrol the aisles of Wal-Mart and proffer your blandishments to a more suitable audience.