Curiosity goes to Mars
NASA’s rover looks for life-friendly environments
By Nadia Drake
2012 SCIENCE NEWS TOP 25: 2
Besieged by budget cuts and diminished by the end of the shuttle era, NASA got a welcome shot in the arm in August as mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., watched their latest interplanetary emissary guide itself to a safe landing on Mars. Curiosity’s arrival on the Red Planet ignited a firestorm of enthusiasm for space sciences, as millions followed the spectacular touchdown online.
The rover’s landing included a hypersonic parachute ride, then an acrobatic sky-crane maneuver involving a retro-rocket-powered descent stage that lowered the rover to the planet’s surface on nylon cables. Christened “Seven Minutes of Terror” by the JPL team, the rover’s entry, descent and landing were broadcast live over NASA’s TV network — and appeared on the big screen in New York City’s Times Square, where cheers erupted when the rover touched Martian soil around 1:30 a.m. on August 6 (SN: 8/25/12, p. 5).