Next month's Mars landing is fast approaching.
After arrival and settling into orbit, there is just one last thing to do...
"We go from 13,000 miles [21,000 kilometers] per hour to zero is seven minutes,"
New video shows how they are going to do it this time.
(Same NASA animation we've seen before, but with better narrative)
http://youtu.be/ISmWAyQxqqs (http://youtu.be/ISmWAyQxqqs)
Though not critical to the mission, Curiosity's landing will be monitored by the aging Mars Orbiter, just keep your fingers crossed.
"A veteran NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars is slowly bouncing back from a malfunction suffered last month, but mission managers expect the orbiter to make a full recovery, agency officials said.
In early June, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter lost the use of one of its three reaction wheels, which help control the probe's attitude and orientation in space without needing to fire thrusters."
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0718/NASA-says-Mars-Odyssey-orbiter-will-likely-recover-from-glitch-video (http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0718/NASA-says-Mars-Odyssey-orbiter-will-likely-recover-from-glitch-video)
Nice article in Air&Space, August edition in anticipation of the Mobil Science Lab - Curiosity Mars landing, just over a week away!
http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Emissary-162926726.html (http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Emissary-162926726.html)
This one is huge and initially planed to explore for 98 weeks.