A momentous occasion is almost upon us for the intrepid space explorer mission to Mars in the name of NASA's Curiosity. A motor car sized robotic mobility science lab is about to set down on the infamous red planet to, among many things, shed light on whether life has ever existed there.
Curiosity is the most complex and most expensive probe ever sent to a planet mission as can be seen quite literally in the detailed image here.
Added to this complexity is the acutely risque landing procedure that NASA engineers developed. To get to its intended touch down zone, at the foot of a 3 mile high mountain, the descending probe on Monday (GMT) must enter the Martian atmosphere at a precise point. This is the most dramatic and nail-biting part of the whole shebang and here bellow is a short sixty second animation from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory showing what it takes to touch down successfully.
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