Ugh, guys, I just "watched" the landing of the new Mars rover, Curiosity, and I'm so stoked about science that I can't sleep. Listen, I'm an astronomer and have faith in NASa, but even in the back of my head I was worried something would go wrong with this landing. There were so many stages that had to be done perfectly and with perfect timing that even one small wrench in the plan would turn a multi-billion dollar rover into a piece of expensive trash on the red planet.
WELL IT WORKED!!!!! NASA just decelerated, parachuted, used rockets to brake,
lowered the rover with nylon cords from a SKY CRANE, and then had the propulsion system sever the cords and
FLY AWAY.
Things went as flawlessly as could be and Curiosity landed safely on Mars and began sending back images almost instantly!!! Here is an image of the rover's shadow:
And below is a schematic of the landing sequence (which you've probably heard all about, a dozen times by now) but STILL. Look at that and tell me that you aren't excited by science, that exploring the cosmos isn't a worthy cause, and that NASA isn't doing the most incredibly inspiring job ever with its 0.1% of the US budget!!!!
