Touchdown - 7 Days - Mars Science Laboratory

Morning,

So we have just about 7 days left until the landing on Mars.

MSL Mission page – http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

The landing process – http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/667454main_MSL%20EDL%20rev-1900.jpg

Real nail biting moment with this landing.. The sky crane is something that to my knowledge, has never been done before! It’s nuts! One little thing goes wrong, we lose a billion dollar rover!

Live coverage will be available on NASA TV. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Should be starting a couple of hours before planned landing.. Don’t forget there is a delay in transmission time between Mars and Earth. So when we see the landing has been successful on NASA TV, it really took place maybe 10-20 minutes earlier. That’s the nail biter! It will have all happened, we will just be waiting for it to come in

MSL/Curiosity is a new generation of Mars Rover. It is nuclear powered, meaning it will be able to work year round, night and day, Sunshine or Martian global dust storm, curiosity will press on with its 2 year prime mission to assess Mars past and present habitability, among other things… While the rover is not specifically designed and tasked with finding traces of past or present life, there is always the chance, as new rovers bring new equipment and capabilities to the remote surface of Mars. It is a mobile laboratory, weather or not it answers the “big question”, it surely will answer others, and open new questions for future explorers, robotic or otherwise, to answer on our greater quest to expand our knowledge of the Solar System.

ONE WEEK!!! =)