Mars Landing!

[krpalmer]

On hearing that the Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" would be entering the red planet's atmosphere around midnight local time, I decided not to stay up really late, and instead just hear what had happened in the morning. Of course, I was concerned I would hear contact had been lost and we would all be left wondering if something had gone wrong with the new landing system or just if the rocket-powered "skycrane" had put the rover down straight on to a large boulder. That might lead to pontifications about the radioactive contamination of Mars from the rover's power source.

After getting up, though, I saw the first "we made it!" pictures, to be struck with the impression the rover landed in the blandest spot pictured on Mars yet. I suppose my conception of the Martian surface is still shaped by the rock-littered pictures from Viking 1 and 2 and Mars Pathfinder. If the rover matches the longevity of its predecessors, though, it could be going somewhere more interesting.

Comments

[thrush]

I was expecting you to have posted on this event! ^__~

I am excited to see what the Curiosity will reveal. As for the initial photo, I suppose that even Mars must have its drear flatland regions. (Probably those are easier to touch down and manoeuvre on than are impressive canyons or mountains?)

[krpalmer]

I know the rover was targeted for a plain inside a large crater and could drive up a central hill inside that crater. My initial thought, though, was that landing on a "rock-strewn surface" versus a "not rock-strewn surface" is nothing more than a matter of luck... although things may have changed since I formed that impression by reading how the Viking landers were targeted on "the safest places they could find."