Mission to Mars
This is one of the most sophisticated space vehicles ever built. Curiosity is a billion-dollar rover. In six days time, it will attempt to touch down on Mars. The mission to Mars has been attempted before, but many earlier attempts have ended in failure.
“Landing a big rover is a tough business. It means that everything about the system gets bigger and therefore harder.”
This will be no ordinary landing. It will be winched down by a crane hovering in the Martian sky.
NASA Plan the Most Audacious Voyage
“It’s so ambitious, it’s so audacious, it’s so unconventional.”
A Horizon Special
Horizon has been behind the scenes with NASA’s team as they follow their rover across 350 million miles of space.
“When Curiosity comes over the horizon, this guy is already pointed in that direction and if she comes up, then we’re talking.”
Curiosity’s mission to Mars is to discover if Mars could ever have supported life. But the Red Planet has become known as the Bermuda Triangle of space. Two-thirds of missions there have ended in failure. In just under a week, the world will learn if Curiosity can overcome the odds and touch down on Mars.
The intrepid travels of Curiosity and its mission to Mars will be followed by millions of television viewers as every step of the voyage will be monitored by thousands of budding space travellers.
Perhaps, the most eye-catching and scientifically-challenging part of the mission will be the incredible Sky-Crane landing, or delivery system, of the Curiosity lander module.
It’s easy to think of Mars as being our near neighbour in planetary terms but, the mission to Mars will be a journey of several months duration, requiring meticulous planning and absolute precision in the planning and execution of this audacious journey.
