Live blog: Curiosity’s descent on Mars
Thanks for following along! View the latest Curiosity stories here.
[11:30 a.m.] NASA has released a photo showing Curiosity landing via a supersonic parachute.
• View large photo: “Orbiter spots Curiosity on Parachute”
[10:00 a.m.] Curiosity will take its first stroll on the Red Planet in about a couple of weeks, says Watkins. It will only move 1 or 2 meters.
[9:48 a.m.] Watkins says Curiosity’s instruments appear to be healthy, but it will take weeks to check out everything.
[9:43 a.m.] Watkins: “I think we all believed it would land successfully, but we were worried.”
[9:24 a.m.] JPL project scientist John Grotzinger thinks one of the photographs shows an outline of Mt. Sharp, a mountain in the Gale Crater.
[9:18 a.m.] The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped a photo of the supersonic parachute opening up as the spacecraft landed Sunday.
[9:12 a.m.] JPL’s Miguel San Martin says the rover landed on Gale Crater, around 2 km east of the landing site.
[9:10 a.m.] Watkins says the rover landed on flat ground.
“We’re at a very slight tilt,” he says “The front is done by 3 degrees.”
[9:05 a.m.] JPL Mission Manager Mike Watkins: “Welcome back to Mars.”
He says the rover is in normal mode, not safe mode, showing that it is healthy.
[8:55 a.m. Aug. 6] Press conference starting soon, with comments from Mike Watkins, Miguel San Martin, Sarah Milkovich and John Grotzinger.
[1:00 a.m.] JPL now has three photos of the rover Curiosity’s landing on Mars.
Read the full story here. We’ll return after 9 a.m. Monday for an update from JPL.
[12:18 a.m.] A press conference with a few of the leaders on the MSL mission just finished up. Another update and possibly more images from Curiosity to come.
[12:11 a.m.] JPL scientist John Grotzinger says the surface team will spend weeks checking out the rover before it moves. “The mission is about patience.”
[11:56 p.m.] By Monday morning, JPL should have a better idea of where Curiosity landed.
[11:50 p.m.] JPL’s Adam Steltzner says the landing “looks extemely clean.”
Navigation error was on the low side, he says.
[11:00 p.m.] NASA’s website crashed when everyone scrambled to look at images of Curiosity. It’s back up now.
[10:56 p.m.] Official landing time was 10:32 p.m. Only one minute off, pretty close.
[10:38 p.m.] The low-resolution photo shows one of Curiosity’s wheels on the surface of Mars!
[10:35 p.m.] Thumbnail photos are in! Curiosity landed a few minutes ago.
[10:32 p.m.] Touchdown! Curiosity has landed, says JPL.
[10:29 p.m.] The parachute has deployed.
[10:25 p.m.] Connection from Odyssey. Curiosity is headed directly to Mars’ Gale Crater.
[10:20 p.m.] Curiosity is sending tone signals, telling JPL when certain actions have occurred.
[10:19 p.m.] JPL says they might have photos tonight, a few minutes after landing.
[10:18 p.m.] Under six minutes until Curiosity enters Mars.
[10:13 p.m.] In about one minute, software on Curiosity will wake up to prepare for landing.
[10:07 p.m.] We’re getting word now that the Odyssey orbiter is ready is relay signals from Mars to Earth.
[9:58 p.m.] JPL’s Adam Steltzner tells the team at Mission Control: “Curiosity is in fantastic shape to perform entry, descent and landing.”
“Good luck,” he says. “See you on the other side, on Mars.”
[9:15 p.m.] It’s official. JPL is no longer sending commands to the spacecraft holding Curiosity. It’s all on its own from here until landing.
[8:41 p.m.] It’s two hours until JPL is expected to know if Curiosity landed on Mars in one piece.
But if the Mars Odyssey Orbiter can’t find Curiosity’s signal, it may take an additional one to two hours.
It all depends on how an old satellite will operate tonight. Read more about Odyssey at the Los Angeles Times.
[6:30 p.m.] The last time engineers can tell the spacecraft carrying the rover Curiosity where to go is two hours before landing, so shortly after 8 p.m.
But they aren’t going to take that opportunity, one engineer told me from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory campus. The team will continue to monitor the vehicle until then, though.
• Read the full story: “Engineers to pass up chance...”
[4:30 p.m.] Confirmed guests at JPL tonight include: Wil Wheaton, Seth Green Alex Trebek, Jeremy Latcham, Nicelle Nichols and Morgan Freeman.
I wonder why Freeman isn’t narrating the live feed tonight at Mission Control? He’s perfect for it.
[3:50 p.m.] Elachi on a failed Curiosity landing: “Sometimes with a failure, you learn a lesson from it and become a better person.”
[3:35 p.m.] When asked if he would rather visit an asteroid or Mars, Grunsfeld picked Mars.
Mars is similar to Earth and humans may one day live there, he says. “It’s that human element that makes it so compelling.”
[3:30 p.m.] Curiosity’s landing “may be the hardest thing we’ve tried on any spacecraft,” says Grunsfeld.
[3:25 p.m.] Grunsfeld on a failed mission: “We’re not going to give up on Mars if we have a bad day.”
“We’ll dust ourselves off...and we’ll be back on Mars,” he says.
[3:20 p.m.] Grunsfeld on the $8.8 billion James Webb Space telescope: “We’re going into the really interesting and difficult phase. The project is doing really well.”
[3:15 p.m.] Elachi and Grunsfeld both say they’re hopeful the White House will continue funding the Mars program for 2013 and future years.
For a full update on NASA’s planetary science budget, see today’s print story.
[3:05 p.m.] JPL Director Charles Elachi and NASA Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld are in a discussion right now, sharing their last thoughts on Curiosity’s landing.
Elachi says engineers at Mission Control will be continuing a 40-year tradition tonight of eating peanuts on landing night. “They think it brings good luck,” he says.
[12:52 p.m.] Engineers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory gave their latest update on Curiosity’s trek to Mars this morning. Everything is going according to plan, but they will have one more chance this afternoon to make adjustments, if needed. Read about the morning briefing here.
[12:42 p.m.] How will Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists and engineers live on Mars time? What will be some of the first steps workers will take early Monday morning?
I talked to an operations manager and scientist who will not get much sleep tonight. Jordan Evans, for example, is starting work at 4 a.m. Monday after watching the landing tonight. Read about it in a blog here.
[10:00 a.m. Aug.5] Good morning, readers! Tonight, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will find out if their one-ton rover Curiosity made it to Mars safely.
Check the PasadenaSun.com throughout the day for live photos, news and updates. I’ll be at JPL’s media room. And of course, leave a comment if you have any burning questions for the scientists and engineers working on the mission.
I’ll be on Twitter @LATiffanyKelly. Also check our @pasadenasun Twitter account for additional news and updates.
-- Tiffany Kelly, Times Community News