News: Curiosity has landed on Mars!!

[Chris Trott]

I've been corrected by NASA in a caption for the full image from HiRISE that the Mars Phoenix lander was also imaged by MRO during it's descent.

Picture -

[Tako_Kichi]

This just about sums it up.

[FlyTexas]

Now that's funny!

Brian

[airboatr]

This just about sums it up.

Hi Larry

I have to ask, is it a flying saucer, or a disk in a controlled fall?

I dare say I couldn't use it to pour Kit a puddle of milk... it'd run off the top, down the sides, and onto the floor!



But it does make me wonder if the Martians have there own version of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds.

[Tako_Kichi]

Well they did fly it horizontally while passing through the upper atmosphere so I guess that counts as a flying saucer, at least for a minute or so until it popped it's chute.

[speedbird591]

This just about sums it up.

That's brilliant!

It reminds me of a US ad that came out when the first space shuttle had landed:

A spaceship has landed on Earth. It came from Rockwell.

Ian

[JohnWillimas]

Is it true that Microsoft are going to base their successor to Flight on the Curiosity mission?

There's just one big button marked "Go for landing" and 28 minutes later you know if it worked.

No problem with frame rates, can't see why it wouldn't be a winner.......

[JohnWillimas]

I cant wait to see the colour pictures in a few days time. I had my doubts the landing but would work but it worked so congrats to NASA.

Nigel²

I Thought it was barmy too when I first heard but then thinking about it, it must be (?) easier to bring something to a hover (zero forward speed at zero vertical speed at doesn't matter if its + or - 6 feet altitude) than it is to land (minimal forward speed at minimal vertical speed at exactly the right altitude - i.e. zero feet - especially in the middle of all those nasy sharp rocks). It seems to be a wonderful bit of lateral thinking to me. "Wouldn't this be so much easier if we could just lower this thing down? Oh, hang about!"

Next step has to be a long rope and a basket from the ISS so we don't have to go on launching rockets up to them....

[NigelC]

More images arriving from Curiosity.......... Standby......... OK.....Coming through now........

[Garry Russell]

Remarkable how they speak English