Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror

[Her3tiK]

Here's a neat video of what the next Mars rover, Curiosity, will have to deal with and overcome, without human assistance, when it reaches Mars on August 5th. It's absolutely incredible; the amount of work scientists have put in to getting all these variables solved to the best of their abilities, and programming a machine with the ability to (hopefully) land safely and intact on another world. I am in complete awe of the people who do this; they should be national heroes.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1090


ETA: 900th post!

[Normandy]

Pretty awesome stuff. Can't wait to see what sort of information it sends back.

[Deus ex Populo]

Update: Coverage of Curiosity's descent has just started and is being streamed online here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html

[armandtanzarian]

Curiousity has landed on Mars. :-)

[Deus ex Populo]

Fuck yes. Congratulations to everyone who made this possible, and to Curiosity itself for its successful voyage.

EDIT: First images! Thumbnails from the hazcams:

[Atavist]

A new era of Mars exploration has begun.
Congrats to everyone who made this possible.

[Art Vandelay]

Fucken-A. Even without any shuttles, NASA is still second to none when it comes to space exploration.

[JohnE]

A new era of Mars exploration has begun.
Congrats to everyone who made this possible.

I'll pass that on to my dad.

[RinellaWasHere]

Did it touch down at Aeolis Mons like they were hoping?

[Atavist]

A new era of Mars exploration has begun.
Congrats to everyone who made this possible.

I'll pass that on to my dad.

Please do. And tell him I said thank you for his contribution in pushing back the wall of ignorance and helping pave the way for humanity's future.

[StallChaser]

A time lapse of the landing from when the heat shield drops off to when it touches down:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I</a>

[Hades]

A new era of Mars exploration has begun.
Congrats to everyone who made this possible.

I'll pass that on to my dad.

Your dad works for NASA? D:  Fuckin' coooooool.

[Sleepy]

A new era of Mars exploration has begun.
Congrats to everyone who made this possible.

I'll pass that on to my dad.

That's so awesome! Give him many thanks, because the folks at NASA are heroes, no doubt.

[Askold]

Me and some of my co-workers were watching NASA tv during the landing. You could really see that everyone at NASA was really, REALLY nervous during the last few minutes.

[Her3tiK]

A new era of Mars exploration has begun.
Congrats to everyone who made this possible.

I'll pass that on to my dad.

That's so awesome! Give him many thanks, because the folks at NASA are heroes, no doubt.

And hug him for me.