Humans send their Curiosity to Mars! | Bad Astronomy:
At 05:31 UTC, on August 6, 2012 – right on schedule, and right on target, after a 560 million kilometer voyage across space – the Mars Science Laboratory, affectionately named Curiosity, touched down on Mars.
In an amazing display of engineering, the incredibly complex and difficult Martian atmospheric entry apparently went without a hitch. The heat shield worked perfectly, the parachutes deployed, the rockets fired, the skycrane lowered the rover, and after eight months in space after launch, the rover set wheels down on the Red Planet.
And within minutes, we got pictures! This was one of the first received from the rover:
WOW! This image is from the Hazard Avoidance Camera, and is actually pretty low res, but still. The camera has a clear protective cover on it to keep out dust blown up when the rover set down, and you can see some dust has stuck to it, muddying the picture (the cover will be ejected soon and we’ll get clearer pictures). But even through the schmutz you can see the landscape, mostly smooth with small rocks nearby. You can also see one of the rover’s wheels on the bottom.
Even ...
