Count-down to Gale Crater, Mars for Curiosity Lander

[American Horse]

Curiosity will enter the atmosphere, and 7 minutes later it will land in Gale Crater, Mars, in the most technically difficult and elegant landing of any of our space craft to date.


The time of the landing is 10:31 PM PST on the 5th or 12:31 AM EST on the 6th of August, and when we get the report that it has entered the atmosphere it will either be dead on the ground ..... or alive.

Here's a false color map of the crater at the top, and a close up of the landing zone bottom

Here is a long view of the crater and the planned landing zone

And here's a link to a truly exciting VIDEO of the whole landing scenario with expert explanations by the mission engineers involved.

[First there's the count-down clock; then click on the screen anywhere and the video link appears]


REWARD YOURSELF AND HOVER AND CLICK TO WATCH IN FULL SCREEN MODE

 

[bobcollum]

The space agency will begin its live coverage Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET on the NASA TV site and will also show the coverage via UStream:

NASA - NASA TV

 

[Douger]

Looks like a good place to race quads.

 

[American Horse]

The space agency will begin its live coverage Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET on the NASA TV site and will also show the coverage via UStream:

NASA - NASA TV

NASA TV schedule
Sunday, Aug. 5
-- 9:30 a.m. - Final Prelanding Update News Briefing
-- 3 p.m. - NASA Science News Briefing
-- 8:30 p.m. to about 11 p.m. - Landing Commentary No. 1
-- No earlier than 11:15 p.m. - Post-landing News Briefing

Monday, Aug. 6
-- 12:30 to 1:30 a.m. - Landing Commentary No. 2
-- 9 a.m. - Landing Recap News Briefing
-- 4 p.m. - Possible New Images News Briefing

 

[hjmick]

Should have sent a Smart car...

Should have sent all the Smart cars...

 

[rightwinger]

Awesome

R2D2 struts his stuff

 

[whitehall]

What a concept. Solar energy works so much better on planets with little or no atmosphere and no nasty CO2. Does that give greenies some ideas? I hope not.

 

[American Horse]

Actually Curiosity will be nuclear powered; a first in a long long time.

Power source: Curiosity is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), like the successful Viking 1 and Viking 2 Mars landers in 1976.

 

[bobcollum]

What a concept. Solar energy works so much better on planets with little or no atmosphere and no nasty CO2. Does that give greenies some ideas? I hope not.

The political hacks always make sure everyone knows when they arrive.

 

[whitehall]

What a concept. Solar energy works so much better on planets with little or no atmosphere and no nasty CO2. Does that give greenies some ideas? I hope not.

The political hacks always make sure everyone knows when they arrive.

Politics -r-us. Thanks for letting me repeat myself. Solar energy only works on planets with no atmosphere. You need a football field of panels on earth to do what the rover machines do on Mars for as long as they do it. Does that give the greenies any ideas? There is a popular program on the History Channel that offers greenies their fantasy of what happens to the world when those pesky humans die off.

 

[bobcollum]

What a concept. Solar energy works so much better on planets with little or no atmosphere and no nasty CO2. Does that give greenies some ideas? I hope not.

The political hacks always make sure everyone knows when they arrive.

Politics -r-us. Thanks for letting me repeat myself. Solar energy only works on planets with no atmosphere. You need a football field of panels on earth to do what the rover machines do on Mars for as long as they do it. Does that give the greenies any ideas? There is a popular program on the History Channel that offers greenies their fantasy of what happens to the world when those pesky humans die off.

Passing the buck...typical.

 

[whitehall]

Um, tell me again why we spent all that money we don't have to put another robot down on the Mars desert? Are we looking for something in particular or just creating show and tell sessions for scientists to go ooo and ahh every time the thing bumps into a rock?

 

[American Horse]

Whitehall, perhaps it will make you happy to know that it is the last planned rover; its name "CURIOSITY" might suggest to you why it's being done.

It IS a costly project, but it's the most complete space laboratory ever attempted. The cost can be calculated at some figure per US citizen at about $7.75, but we know that in actuality its cost is being born by far fewer, so each participating US taxpayer is paying more than tht, but that's true of every US program.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Should be exciting as long as the tethers and rockets function properly.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Anyone watching this live? What is it about 30 minutes from landing?

 

[Dr.House]

Anyone watching this live? What is it about 30 minutes from landing?

No - about an hour and a half...

Stream if you're interested:

Watch NASA's live coverage of Mars rover landing | Cutting Edge - CNET News

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Ah shit, an hour and a half. Damnit, I doubt I make it to the finale then. I heard them say they were in the orbit of one of the moon's so I figured at 13k mph it would be soon.

I hope it doesn't crash. I've learned that of 44 attempts to land on mars only 1/3 have been a success.

 

[Dr.House]

Ah shit, an hour and a half. Damnit, I doubt I make it to the finale then. I heard them say they were in the orbit of one of the moon's so I figured at 13k mph it would be soon.

I hope it doesn't crash. I've learned that of 44 attempts to land on mars only 1/3 have been a success.

That sounds right... Spokesperson said about a 1:3 chance of successful landing...

 

[Mr. H.]

I don't unnerstan why NASA (which is ASAN backwards, btw) can't focus a lazer beam at earth and use it to transmit telemetry practically instantaneously.

 

[Mr. H.]

I wonder what the wheels smell like.