NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover Lands Successfully on Planet
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NASA/JPL-Caltech(PASADENA, Calif.) — NASA’s $2.5 billion Mars Curiosity Rover has landed on the surface of the red planet following an eight-month, 352-million-mile journey. NASA says it received a signal from the rover after a plunge through the Martian atmosphere described as “seven minutes of terror.”
A chorus of cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory just after 1:30 a.m. EDT Monday when it was confirmed the rover had landed successfully.
“Touchdown confirmed,” said engineer Allen Chen. “We’re safe on Mars.”
Minutes later, Curiosity beamed back the first pictures from the surface showing its wheel and its shadow — cast by the afternoon sun — giving earthlings their first glimpse of a touchdown on another world.
Mars Curiosity is NASA’s latest and boldest attempt yet to go where robots — but no man — have gone before. Before this mission — formally known as the Mars Science Laboratory — the U.S., Russia, Japan and Europe had sent 40 spacecraft to explore the fourth planet from the sun since the space age began. Twenty-six had failed.
Curiosity, an intrepid chemistry set on wheels, packed with cameras and gadgets galore, was designed to look for signs that life once existed on Mars — signs that Mars could once have had the chemical resources needed to support microbial life. This could mean potential sources of water, food and energy that could someday support visiting humans from Earth.
The landing had been dubbed “Seven Minutes of Terror” by the engineers who figured out the best way to land. Adam Steltzner, team leader for the entry, descent and landing of Curiosity, said that as the ship was in the planning stages and then heading to Mars, he found himself waking up in the middle of the night, thinking about the sequence of events that would have to go perfectly.
“The big trick is you are going 13,000 miles an hour,” he said. “You slam into the Martian atmosphere and you want to gracefully get the spacecraft down sitting quietly on the surface on her wheels, and all of that takes different changes in the configuration of the vehicle, 79 events that must occur.”
Curiosity was set to land when Mars was 154 million miles from Earth. It weighed 5,293 pounds on Earth — the size of a small car and much bigger than the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which were cushioned by airbags when they landed in 2004.
Engineers quickly figured out that airbags would burst if they were tried on Curiosity. So they designed it to be lowered to the Martian surface by a heat shield, then a parachute, then retro-rockets, and finally a sky crane — something that had never tried before — and that’s what made this so scary for them. Just one slip would mean $2.5 billion down the drain.
Now that the rover is safely on Mars, NASA hopes it will explore the planet for one Martian year, which is about 22 months on Earth.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio