Mars Rover Curiosity Lands Successfully on Mars After Incredible Effort

Monday, August 6, 2012 - 00:50 in Astronomy & Space

Curiosity Triumphant The robot geologist and chemist landed safely on Mars at 1:31 a.m. Eastern time Monday morning/ 10:31 p.m. Pacific time Sunday night. The rover is still tucked tightly for the next day or so, but explosive devices will fire to release its mast within the first day, so the rover's Mastcam can take a panoramic image of its landing spot in Gale Crater. NASA/JPLAfter cruising through space for eight months, and plummeting through the Martian atmosphere for seven minutes, the rover reports success PASADENA, Calif. -- Space fans, raise a toast: NASA's laser-equipped, beefy-armed, car-sized rover is safe and sound on the surface of the Red Planet. A journey of 352 million miles ended in a supersonic plunge through the Martian atmosphere late Sunday night, and after seven minutes of terror, the < ahref="http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/mars-rover-curiosity">Mars rover Curiosity unspooled from the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft and alighted on the dusty surface...

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