Experts Prepare for MSL's 7 Minutes of Terror

With the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity moving closer to its planned, August 5 landing date, mission controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, are getting ready for the toughest part of the missions, the 7 minutes of terror.

This is the name given to the brief interval when spacecraft traveling to Mars enter the planet's atmosphere, and lose communications with Earth. In addition, a 10-minute delay exists in communications between our planet and the neighboring world.

JPL scientists will know if the landing went well only after Curiosity touches down on the Red Planet. Given the complexity of the landing system NASA selected for the 1-ton rover, it's safe to say that all fingers belonging to JPL personnel are tightly crossed.

In addition, it took $2.5 billion and several years to build the machine. The Mini Cooper-sized vehicle is the largest ever sent to the surface of Mars, and the first to use the revolutionary Sky Crane deployment system (pictured), Space reports.

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Via: Experts Prepare for MSL's 7 Minutes of Terror