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Curiosity [3] has landed in Gale crater, within sight of Mount Sharp. Pictures are already coming down, and the talk about the skycrane [1] landing method has changes from " Um... are we really gonna do this?" to "Well, of course it worked, never had any doubts".
Image above: A first light image from Curiosity. Courtesy of JPL/NASA.
But there is one image I feel like I have to post* - I'm going to refrain from a major post until the Curiosity team have got their bearings, and maybe given a preliminary geologic assesment of the area they're in - but:
Image above: Curiosity, inside it's protective shell, parachuting onto the Martian surface. Image courtesy of JPL.
This shot was taken by the orbiting MRO spaceship [2], as Curiosity parachuted to the surface. Bear in mind, there's no real time, adjust it as you go, controlling of a robot ship near Mars: This was all pre-programmed in, and then the team crossed their fingers and went "!" .
*Yes, I've posted two.
List of links:
[1]http://www.space.com/16878-mars-rover-landing-sky-crane-guide.html
[2]http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
[3]http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
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