PASADENA, Calif.Hurtling ever closer to Mars, NASA's most high-tech interplanetary rover prepared for the riskiest part of its journey: diving through the Martian atmosphere and pulling off a new landing routine. <\/p>\n
Nerves will be on overdrive Sunday night as the Curiosity rover attempts a dizzying \"seven minutes of terror\" routine that ends with it being lowered by cables inside a massive crater if all goes according to script. <\/p>\n
Hours before the 10:31 p.m. PDT planned touchdown, Curiosity was in excellent health and speeding toward the top of Mars' thin atmosphere. <\/p>\n
\"We're having a very clean ride right now. It's a little spooky,\" said Allen Chen, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $2.5 billion mission. <\/p>\n
Not ones to tempt fate, flight controllers planned to break out the \"good luck\" peanuts before Curiosity takes the plunge as part of a long-running tradition. <\/p>\n
One scientist who can relate to the building anxiety is Cornell University planetary scientist Steve Squyres, who headed NASA's last successful rover mission in 2004. <\/p>\n
This time around, Squyres has a supporting role and planned to view the landing with other researchers in the \"science bullpen.\" <\/p>\n
\"Landing on Mars is always a nerve-racking thing. You're never going to get relaxed about something like landing a spacecraft on Mars,\" said Squyres. <\/p>\n
Sunday's touchdown attempt was especially intense because NASA is testing a brand new landing technique. There's also extra pressure because budget woes have forced NASA to rejigger its Mars exploration roadmap. <\/p>\n
\"There's nothing in the pipeline\" beyond the planned launch of a Mars orbiter in 2013, said former NASA Mars czar Scott Hubbard, who teaches at Stanford University. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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NASA braces for "7 minutes of terror" Mars plunge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PASADENA, Calif.Hurtling ever closer to Mars, NASA's most high-tech interplanetary rover prepared for the riskiest part of its journey: diving through the Martian atmosphere and pulling off a new landing routine. Continue reading