USA Wins the Gold!!!!!

Last night at 12:32 AM, the robot called Curiosity landed on Mars. I watched the live feed from NASA and was excited along with them when each report was relayed:  open the parachute, separate the heat shield, detach the craft's back shell, lower the landing crane, and jettison the parachute. Then finally, the call came, "We have touchdown," and the room erupted. It looked exactly like the jubilation after an Olympic gold medal had been won.    


Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral last November 26, the result of over 8 years of planning,  and traveled 352 million miles since then to arrive at the surface of Mars last night. The picture below shows the parachute deployed as the rover heads toward the surface. It was taken by a satellite orbiting Mars which will help Curiosity send back its images. On the right of the picture is the blowup of the area outlined in the small square on the left.  

The first image sent back by the lander is shown below. The rocky surface of Mars is evident, with the horizon at the top of the picture and one of the wheels of the rover visible in the lower right corner of the picture.    






The second image to come back, taken from a camera on the other side, is especially striking because it shows the shadow of the Mars rover on the surface of the planet.   



 

 Here is a drawing of the rover as it is expected to operate on the surface of Mars.   


 

For at least the next two years, the rover will explore the surface of Mars, sending back pictures and scientific data. As NASA budgets have dropped over the last few years and the Shuttle program has faded out of existence, it was exciting to see the crowds at Times Square in New York last night watching the live feed and the activity on Twitter and Facebook talking about the new era in space exploration. Congratulations, NASA, on an amazing job well done!