NASA’s Curiosity Rover Safely Lands on Mars
Science • August 2012 • Views: 1,691
earthsky.org
Shadow of the rover
Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory were jubilant last night, letting out a long whoop, following word of the picture-perfect descent and landing of the new Mars rover, Curiosity. The descent of the rover from the top of Mars’ atmosphere to the planet’s surface had earlier been called seven minutes of terror by these scientists, because of its extreme difficulty and zero margin for error. The safe landing of Curiosity marks the beginning what promises to be the most ambitious planetary missions in history. Mission mechanical system lead Adam Stelzner said:
