Mars rover Curiosity readies for historic landing

12 years ago | Posted in: Technology | 688 Views

It’s now only a few hours before the NASA Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to land in the surface of Mars, and excitement is building.

The NASA rover, which has been cruising toward Mars for eight months, starting a sequence of automated steps about 3 p.m. PDT in anticipation of its scheduled Sunday night landing.

The first two steps were to turn on Curiosity’s navigation system, using the Sun and stars to orient itself, and to begin to warm up the spacecraft’s powerful rocket engines, which will be used during the landing sequence.

“This makes it very real,” said Ravi Prakash, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge and a member of the entry, descent and landing team. “There’s nothing that’s going to stop us from landing now. We have to give it the best shot that we can, and that’s what we’re working toward in the next two days.”

It’s now only a few hours before the NASA Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to land in the surface of Mars, and excitement is building.

The NASA rover, which has been cruising toward Mars for eight months, starting a sequence of automated steps about 3 p.m. PDT in anticipation of its scheduled Sunday night landing.

The first two steps were to turn on Curiosity’s navigation system, using the Sun and stars to orient itself, and to begin to warm up the spacecraft’s powerful rocket engines, which will be used during the landing sequence.

“This makes it very real,” said Ravi Prakash, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge and a member of the entry, descent and landing team. “There’s nothing that’s going to stop us from landing now. We have to give it the best shot that we can, and that’s what we’re working toward in the next two days.”

It’s now only a few hours before the NASA Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to land in the surface of Mars, and excitement is building.

The NASA rover, which has been cruising toward Mars for eight months, starting a sequence of automated steps about 3 p.m. PDT in anticipation of its scheduled Sunday night landing.

The first two steps were to turn on Curiosity’s navigation system, using the Sun and stars to orient itself, and to begin to warm up the spacecraft’s powerful rocket engines, which will be used during the landing sequence.

“This makes it very real,” said Ravi Prakash, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge and a member of the entry, descent and landing team. “There’s nothing that’s going to stop us from landing now. We have to give it the best shot that we can, and that’s what we’re working toward in the next two days.”

 

 

Ref: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

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