This just might be the coolest space thing I've ever read. A fucking sky crane. 3rd person pictures of the landing.
For those that don't know, early this morning EST we landed a rover on Mars the size of a Mini Cooper, and weighs as much as an SUV. This is what it looks like:
After blasting through the Martian atmosphere at over 13,000 miles per hour. A supersonic parachute opened to slow down the rover:
And then possibly the coolest part of the whole thing. As it got close to the surface, reverse thrusters fired to become a fucking sky crane, lowering the rover to the surface.
This was all 'filmed' by by a 3rd party satellite orbiting high above the Martian planet. The satellite's name is HiRISE, and its the most powerful camera we've ever sent to another planet. Amazing!
Oh yeah, and since it takes about 15 minutes for any radio signals to reach Earth, this was all done automated. SO fscking cool. GO NASA!!!
For those that don't know, early this morning EST we landed a rover on Mars the size of a Mini Cooper, and weighs as much as an SUV. This is what it looks like:
After blasting through the Martian atmosphere at over 13,000 miles per hour. A supersonic parachute opened to slow down the rover:
And then possibly the coolest part of the whole thing. As it got close to the surface, reverse thrusters fired to become a fucking sky crane, lowering the rover to the surface.
This was all 'filmed' by by a 3rd party satellite orbiting high above the Martian planet. The satellite's name is HiRISE, and its the most powerful camera we've ever sent to another planet. Amazing!
Oh yeah, and since it takes about 15 minutes for any radio signals to reach Earth, this was all done automated. SO fscking cool. GO NASA!!!