Mars Forecast: Dry Skies and Calm Winds for Mars Rover Curiosity's Landing

Dry and Cold at Gale Crater This composite image of the global surface of Mars shows the puffy remnant of a dust storm near the area where the Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to land tomorrow night. The landing is at Gale Crater, highlighted in the circle. NASA managers were concerned the storm could worsen and complicate matters for Curiosity's landing, but the planet's weather is apparently cooperating. NASA/JPLMars is cooperating PASADENA, Calif. -- We're about 34 hours from the Mars rover Curiosity's landing, and NASA has the latest weather forecast from the surface -- dry and cold, with a slight chance of dust. Slight is good. Earlier this week, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a dust storm south of Gale Crater, the rover's targeted landing site. While dust storms have posed problems for previous generations of rovers, the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft and Curiosity rover is designed to handle...

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