'Curiosity' to make unusual landing on Mars

[Mike]

The roving Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" will attempt a unique landing on the Red Planet in 2012, seen in this dramatic animation + a look at some of the mission's science.

http://www.space.com/11368-curiosity-unusual-landing-mars.html

Look at how this thing is going to land. There are just so many things that could go wrong. i will be amazed if this makes it to the ground safely. Why not just use the bouncing airbag technique that has been used successfully before?

[Mac]

How much fuel must that carry just to 

a) slow it down
b) hover
c) fly away

it got 100% Failure writen all over it.

nice concept though.

If they are going for something as elaborate as that, they might as well put a
nuclear fuel cell on board and build it with ducted fan technology,
that way they can have a flying car.
(Not too sure on the aerodynamics as i cant remember how thich the atmosphere is
which would dictate the fan sizes)

Mac

[mickw]

They could at least have attempted a soft landing with the crane gizmo, that would have given them data for any future attempts even if it failed.

[Ian]

pretty certain you'd have to take your reaction mass with you rather than use ducted fans. The atmosphere is way too tenuous to derive any lift my moving it about.

I'm sure I read somewhere that even though the winds travel at hundreds of miles an hour, you'd never be blown over by them.

Those rockets did seem to burn for a very long time though...

[Tony G]

Short animation of how they expect the landing of Curiosity to be.
If only they had done something like this for Beagle 2, it could have been a completely different outcome.

http://www.wimp.com/curiosityrover/

Tony G

[mickw]

The good thing is that we "know" it's going to end in tears and NASA usually fail to disappoint 

[Tony G]

Sorry Mike.

Tony G

[mickw]

5 days to go for Curiosity touchdown/disaster

Today's APOD -
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120731.html

APOD seem confused over the date 

A bit more -
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

[Mike]

The date is correct, that is early in the morning of the 6th for us.

I'm still very sceptical it will make it down to the ground in one piece but I really hope it does.

[doug]

Did anybody see the Mission to Mars documentary on BBC 2 yesterday evening?  Very explanatory and interesting and let`s hope it is a sucessful landing and deployment of Curiosity. And todays APOD is brilliant......

Fingers crossed, chaps.  

[Fay]

what is the best website to see the landing live? ................................

[Mike]

NASA TV

[Fay]

thanks Mike, is the time correct 6.30am?

[mickw]

It's supposed to be around 5:20 UT so 6:30 ish should be right

[RobertM]

I just hope they've use SI units everywhere this time !

[Mike]

In the meantime you can get live mission data for this mssion and many others at -

http://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html

[mickw]

I just hope they've use SI units everywhere this time !

Silicon Implants 

[Fay]

what is SI?

[mickw]

In the meantime you can get live mission data for this mssion and many others at -

http://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html

Doug Ellison (as seen at OAS) has just done a demo of this on NASA TV

[Mike]

Amazing!!! Curiosity is on the surface of Mars. I never thought it would make it down safely, especially with the history of previous landers. What an amazing engineering feat.

[mickw]

Fantastic achievement 

The JPL crew seem happy 

[Mike]

It's first image...



A crappy 256x256 image of the martian landscape, the sky and the lander wheel from the hazard avoidance camera.

[Mike]

Second image, it's own shadow.

[Fay]

Fantastic landing!!!!!!!! pictures as well

[Mike]

It's down at the moment due to high traffic but this website will show the raw images from Curiosity:-

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/

[mickw]

Here's a screen print of them -

[Fay]

pictures not showing on the site at the moment

[Fay]

ok showing now

[Delphine]

So exciting to watch live.  Looking forward to the science.

Delphine

[MarkS]

They definitely deserve the gold medal for that performance

[RobertM]

Like Mike, I thought this was an overly complex mission that had a high chance of failure but I'm glad it all worked out.  What a great achievement !

Robert

[Carole]

Later image:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1289

[Mike]

The MRO also managed to take a snap of the MSL as it descended on its parachute:-

[Kylee]

I set the alarm to witness the landing live. What an amazing achievement as there have been so many failures. When the images appeared too it was just fantastic, can't wait to see more 

[Tony G]

This is all a conspiracy.

I believe these are images that Fay has taken, and copyrighted, and

this is one that Mark took by chance as he was imaging Jupiter. 

Well done NASA.

Tony G

PS...........I know Curiosity Killed the Cat, but do you think it could find a Beagle.

[Whitters]

Curiosity Rover caught in the act of landing

August 6, 2012: An image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter captured the Curiosity rover still connected to its 51-foot-wide (almost 16 meter) parachute as it descended towards its landing site at Gale Crater.

The image was taken while MRO was 211 miles (340 kilometers) away from the parachuting rover. Curiosity and its rocket-propelled backpack, contained within the conical-shaped back shell, had yet to be deployed. At the time, Curiosity was about two miles (three kilometers) above the Martian surface.

Pictures and more: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/06aug_parachute/

[Mike]

NASA have now released a Timelapse Movie of the descent. View it HERE.

[MarkS]

All the bits and pieces have now been imaged on the Martain surface using the MRO:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19172564

[mickw]

Some high res images - you can play around with choice of camera

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFamily/Mars?subselect=Spacecraft%3ACuriosity%3A

[NigelG]

Good morning,
I have been told that they landed within 2km of their intended target!!!!!.
If my maths is correct it's like parking your car in the center of a parking bay
To within 0.009 millimeters or for us oldies
0.00035 inches
Nigel


ps. thinking about it, in London you would be lucky to get within 2 km of your intended parking bay.

[Rick]

First 360-Degree Panorama From NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover

Remarkable image sets from NASA's Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are continuing to develop the story of Curiosity's landing and first days on Mars.

The images from Curiosity's just-activated navigation cameras, or Navcams, include the rover's first self-portrait, looking down at its deck from above. Another Navcam image set, in lower-resolution thumbnails, is the first 360-degree view of Curiosity's new home in Gale Crater. Also downlinked were two, higher-resolution Navcams providing the most detailed depiction to date of the surface adjacent to the rover.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-235#10

[Tony G]

It doesn't always go NASA's way.

Luckily Curiosity has landed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19205361

Tony G

[Mike]

Very tall hi-res image of the rover and its surrounding area taken from HIRISE.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/676491main_pia16056-full_full.jpg

Also a full resolution panoramic view (incomplete).

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA16051.jpg

[Mike]

Hi definition video of the descent...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZX5GRPnd4U&feature=player_embedded