NASA counts down to dramatic Mars landing

6 Aug 2012, 1:55 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Scientists do not expect Curiosity to find living creatures. Rather they hope to use it to analyse soil and rocks for signs that the building blocks of life are present and may have supported life in the past. (AAP)

Scientists do not expect Curiosity to find living creatures. Rather they hope to use it to analyse soil and rocks for signs that the building blocks of life are present and may have supported life in the past. (AAP)

With a mixture of nerves and confidence, NASA is counting down to the landing of its largest ever robotic rover on Mars.

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With a mixture of nerves and confidence, NASA is counting down to the landing of its largest ever robotic rover on Mars, where it will search for signs that life may once have existed on the planet.

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The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, featuring a car-sized rover called Curiosity, is expected to land on Mars at 3.31pm (AEST) on Monday.

However, success is anything but certain with this first-of-its-kind attempt to drop a six-wheeled chemistry laboratory by a rocket-powered sky crane onto an alien planet.

NASA's more recent rover drop-offs were done with the help of airbags.

"We are rationally confident, emotionally terrified and ready for EDL," said NASA engineer Adam Steltzner, leader of the US space agency team directing entry, descent and landing (EDL), a process NASA has called "Seven Minutes of Terror".

In these final moments, the spacecraft should accelerate with the pull of gravity as it nears Mars' atmosphere, making a fiery entry at a speed of 21,240 kilometres per hour and then slowing down with the help of a supersonic parachute.

After that, an elaborate sky crane powered by rocket blasters will kick in, and the rover is due to be lowered by nylon tethers, hopefully landing upright on all six wheels.

Scientists do not expect Curiosity to find living creatures. Rather they hope to use it to analyse soil and rocks for signs that the building blocks of life are present and may have supported life in the past.

The project also aims to study the Martian environment to prepare for a possible human mission there in the coming years.

The spacecraft has already been collecting data on radiation during its eight and a half-month journey following its launch in November 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Mars program director Doug McCuistion called the science "absolutely crucial" to finding out if Earthlings are alone, how Mars evolved from a wet to a dry planet and how accessible it may be for human explorers in the future.

"If we succeed, it will be one of the greatest feats in planetary exploration ever," he told reporters. "Our success rate has been pretty darn good recently."

However, he cautioned that "these things are really hard to do" and admitted that "we may not be successful".

Attempts by global space agencies since 1960 have resulted in a near 40 per cent success rate in sending landers, orbiters or other spacecraft for flybys to Mars. NASA has the best record.

McCuistion said if the project fails NASA would learn from its mistakes and press forward with Mars exploration.

In the meantime, members of NASA's flight team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, were clinging to their good luck charms as the rover sped toward Mars at a rate of 13,000 km/h.

Flight team member Brian Portock said NASA had decided last-minute corrections to the flight path were not necessary overnight, and said communications with the spacecraft were very good.

"In cell phone speak, we have a full set of bars," he said.

The weather on Mars was also promising, with a nearby dust storm that was spotted days ago all but gone now.

The announced landing time is 14 minutes after the touchdown occurs, with a delay due to the time it takes signals to travel from Mars to the Earth.

The US space agency said it will air a live commentary on NASA television beginning at 1pm (AEST).

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Your Comments

@Mark

mike j - from somewhere, 10 months ago

You mean the 'top government agencies and military' that can't stop haemorrhaging classified information to Wikileaks? These are the guys who are going to keep ALIENS a secret? You conspiracy theory loons give people far too much credit.

A sheer waste of money

Jo - from Perth WA, 10 months ago

With all the people that live in poverty around the world and people that need medical needs the wasted money that NASA spends to excite their brains could be way better spent. I watched on SBS. Nothing that thrilling.

Keen observer and realist.

Mark - from Old Reynella, South Australia, 10 months ago

If there was alien life discovered on any planet would they really tell us the truth? I somehow doubt it. I feel the top government agencies and military would only tell us if it does not cause a breakdown in their control mechanisms such as religion.

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