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Friday, 3 August 2012

Mars!

Posted on 07:14 by hony
By this time Monday, one of the most important events in space exploration will have occurred. Whether you are cognizant of it or not, the Mars Science Laboratory has been trekking through the empty blackness of space since this past November. What is the Mars Science Laboratory? Why, here's a fantastic video about it (just watch the first two minutes):

This is obviously a complicated procedure. Because Mars' atmosphere is thin, simple parachute landing won't work. Because the Curiosity Rover is so heavy, it can't do the balloon landing like the previous two rovers. So this convoluted parachute-retrorocket-drop from a cable plan was devised.

I won't say much more than that about the mission. But with NASA having spent $2.5 billion on this mission, pray with me, Saturday night, that the landing is a success. Successfully proving that heavy cargo can be deposited on Mars would open the door for future human missions there.


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