The Mars Curiosity Rover Gets One Chance to Land Tonight
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Tonight at about 10:31 PM Pacific time, the Curiosity Rover is scheduled to land on the surface of Mars, in a complicated multi-stage maneuver with only one chance to get it right. Here’s a multimedia page at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory site that demonstrates the daredevil descent: How Do I Land on Mars?
UPDATE at 8/5/12 3:41:02 pm
Here’s a great NASA video about the landing process (h/t: RadicalModerate):