Curiosity Has Landed – ScienceNOW
It all worked. The 500,000 lines of computer code went off without a glitch. The 76 onboard explosive devices popped off in sequence to the microsecond, throwing valves and cutting loose tether lines. So Curiosity rover’s 7 minutes of terror had the happiest of endings. At 1:37 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, word came down: “Touchdown confirmed. We’re safe on Mars.” Signals from Curiosity, followed within minutes by the first crude images of wheels on the ground, confirmed that it had safely touched down in Gale crater on Mars near enticing water-altered sediments at the foot of 5-kilometer-tall Mount Sharp.
via Curiosity Has Landed – ScienceNOW.
I can’t WAIT for more photos and news from Mars! What an exciting moment for science and history.
I am endlessly amazed that it went off without a hitch. I mean, usually something goes wrong, right? I hope I didn’t just jinx us…
Great, now the rover is going to fall into a ravine or something;)