

Mars rover "Curiosity" set for touchdown next week - joshlegs
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

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jasonwatkinspdx
Here's an excellently produced video showing just how ambitious the design is:

<http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1090>

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zheng
So that is basically insane, but I do have to ask how many of those kinds of
maneuvers have been tried before? I mean, they say they can't land the rover
with rockets, so I assume they have used alternate methods before as well?

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pohl
For comparison, here is the similar video that they put out to describe the
EDL system used by Spirit & Opportunity back in 2004. For some reason it was a
mere 6 minutes of terror. I'm not sure what accounts for the discrepancy:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij33yhdGn_g>

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rory096
Phoenix was also 7 minutes: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2ucH1PT4LQ>

Maybe the retrorockets/sky crane in Phoenix/Curiosity (respectively) add a few
seconds.

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pohl
Here's a pretty good presentation on the design constraints of Curiosity. He
answers the 6 vs 7 question about 27 minutes in: it's the guided-descent phase
that gives the extra minute.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q38AncYm2U>

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51Cards
It's the landing sequence on this that has me spooked. Not that I doubt the
engineering behind it but wow, to put something this heavy on the planet they
had to come up with a fairly complex sequence as the 7 Minutes of Terror video
explains. I'm sure it's been checked and rechecked but I don't think I'd want
to have to go through the stress of waiting for final confirmation.

If they pull this off then my extreme kudos to the team, and I very eagerly
await a new set of eyes on MARS. I couldn't get enough of what came out of
every previous rover. Maybe I missed my calling. :)

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hrayr
They had a similarly remarkable landing for the Mars Exploration Rovers. I
happened to be interning at JPL with the MER EDL team when these rovers landed
in 2004, and the level of precision and excitement was absolutely amazing. MER
had 6 minutes of terror, and they do get some data during these 6 minutes,
it's just they can't do anything about it because the round trip communication
delay at the time was about 20 minutes.

I remember one of the engineers comparing the precision needed for launching
and landing a Rover on Mars to hitting a golf ball in California and landing a
hole in one in Florida.

Here's the MER EDL. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij33yhdGn_g>

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vibrunazo
Here's a G+ event that will automatically add to your calendar and let you
know when the live coverage starts:

[https://plus.google.com/u/0/110701307803962595019/posts/cZZ9...](https://plus.google.com/u/0/110701307803962595019/posts/cZZ9c8LoM1r)

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andy_herbert
Such a shame that there will be very little 'curiosity' expressed by the
general public.

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Pyrodogg
Darn you physics and your 14 minute tape delay, I want to tweet this live!

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maeon3
I hope the rover will dig a hole in the ground and uncover a shiny piece of
metal, continue digging and find the corner of a massive spaceship.

Then we power it up and it still works.

