Nasa's Curiosity Landing

[x_terna]

Curiosity's 7 minutes of Terror.

Its approximately 352 million mile (567 million kilometer), 36-week journey from Earth nearly complete, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft and its Curiosity rover are "all systems go" for touchdown in Mars' Gale Crater tonight at 10:31 p.m. PDT (1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6). This morning, flight controllers decided to forgo the sixth and final opportunity on the mission calendar for a course-correction maneuver. The spacecraft is headed for its target entry point at the top of Mars' atmosphere precisely enough that the maneuver was deemed unnecessary. In addition, this afternoon, mission controllers determined that no further updates are necessary to the onboard information the spacecraft will use during its autonomous control of MSL's entry, descent and landing. Parameters on a motion tracker were adjusted Saturday for fine-tuning determination of the spacecraft's orientation during its descent. As of 6:18 p.m. PDT (9:18 p.m. EDT), MSL was approximately 36,000 miles (57,936 kilometers) from Mars, traveling at a speed of about 8,400 mph (about 3,755 meters per second).

Raw Images

Nasa

Update:

Aug 6, 2012 -- From an orbital perch 340 kilometers (211 miles) above Mars, NASA's sharp-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spied its new sister probe, Curiosity, making its parachute arrival on the Red Planet in the early hours of Monday morning.



Aug 6, 2012 -- NASA's Curiosity Mars rover sent back its first high-resolution pictures from its new home inside Gale Crater, offering a stunning view of the towering Mount Sharp. The three-mile-high mound -- taller than any mountain in the continental United States -- is Curiosity's ultimate destination, a site that scientists believe may harbor evidence of habitats that could support life.

Source: http://news.discovery.com/

Thanks Podsaurus.

Really cool video.

First Image of Mars

They lied!, this ain't mars this is Egypt. lol
Source.

The First 2 images of a 360° Panorama.

Source



Source

[Blacksite]

Awesome video. I love watching this stuff.

[DreDayDetox]

That was so great. Awesome data from the rover. Great accomplishment. Bravo NASA, bravo.


Edit: Managed to get a quick photo of the images that were broadcast on the NASA HD channel

[claud3]

Excellent vid mate. Loving it

[podsaurus]

It will be interesting to see what they find. Love this stuff.

[DayWalker]

Don't forget to thank the Mars taxi service

[podsaurus]

I figured I'd update with some more pictures.

Aug 6, 2012 -- From an orbital perch 340 kilometers (211 miles) above Mars, NASA's sharp-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spied its new sister probe, Curiosity, making its parachute arrival on the Red Planet in the early hours of Monday morning.



Aug 6, 2012 -- NASA's Curiosity Mars rover sent back its first high-resolution pictures from its new home inside Gale Crater, offering a stunning view of the towering Mount Sharp. The three-mile-high mound -- taller than any mountain in the continental United States -- is Curiosity's ultimate destination, a site that scientists believe may harbor evidence of habitats that could support life.

Source: http://news.discovery.com/

[DarkVincent07]

wow, simply amazing stuff. will definitely stay tuned

[DeviousOne]

This is awesome stuff! I forgot that nasa has this program going on on the planet mars

[Dave-The-Rave]

What's the big deal? Not like its the first rover on Mars. Meh.

[DayWalker]

Don't forget to thank the Mars taxi service

fine. I'll do it.

Great Job United Launch Alliance for delivering the payload to Mars.

What's the big deal? Not like its the first rover on Mars. Meh.

the sky crane, payload size, and technology on the rover make it a big deal. Unless all that look easy to you.

[DreDayDetox]

I was half expecting an autobot to show up on the cam feed when it landed LOL

[DarkVincent07]

the sky crane, payload size, and technology on the rover make it a big deal. Unless all that look easy to you.

Plus some pretty, hight quality pictures of the surface, never seen anything like that before from Mars. So awesome

[Valefor]

[Lethal_NFS]

I want more pictures!!!!!!! This thing has sure sparked my....curiosity. ha ha ha, ya that wasn't funny..

[Blacksite]

I just like seeing this kind of stuff. I'm always amazed at how much care and attention to detail goes into these missions. And yet NASA barely gets any funding compared to other things like our national security, which is important too, but yeah. Space exploration is really a long-term and important goal for mankind if we want to ensure our survival.

[TRF]

So America owns Mars now, right?

[x_terna]

OP has been updated, with more pictures and a quick heat shield video.