JPL Does it Again

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is on a roll. The Mars missions over the last decade, although not problem free, have been simply remarkable. From the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and now mega-rover Curiosity, JPL continues to show what NASA is capable of accomplishing even in this age of shrinking budgets. Early this morning, Curiosity was set safely on the surface of Mars:

PASADENA, Calif. — In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past.

A chorus of cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Sunday night after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built sent a signal to Earth. It had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

"Touchdown confirmed," said engineer Allen Chen. "We're safe on Mars."

...

It was NASA's seventh landing on Earth's neighbor; many other attempts by the U.S. and other countries to zip past, circle or set down on Mars have gone awry.

The arrival was an engineering tour de force, debuting never-before-tried acrobatics packed into "seven minutes of terror" as Curiosity sliced through the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph.

In a Hollywood-style finish, cables delicately lowered the rover to the ground at a snail-paced 2 mph.

There are plenty of other places to go to satisfy your, uh, Curiosity. Here is a gallery of images from NASA, the JPL Homepage, and one of my frequent web-stops, Universe Today. Here is a video on YouTube that condenses the live feed from mission control, showing the excitement from before and after confirmation of touchdown, complete with a simulated animation (which runs a little ahead of the live action).

These folks are going to have a lot of fun over the next several months, and longer. Funny thing, though. Everytime we go to Mars, it seems, this guy shows up.