Watch Live: Curiosity Rover Attempts to Land on Mars

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Tonight NASA engineers will attempt that hardest and most dangerous landing of a robot on another planet as their Curiosity rover descends to the Martian surface. The one-ton nuclear-powered rover is carrying a suite of 10 instruments that will make it a moving laboratory, able to explore the complex geologic history of Mars as well as search for signs of habitability.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/watch-live-curiosity/

 

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Mars mission: Curiosity appears to have landed safely

Curiosity, the largest and most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet, appears to have landed on Mars to begin its pioneering, two-year hunt for the building blocks of life — signs that Earth’s creatures may not be alone in the universe.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science...o-have-landed-safely-20120805,0,1496980.story

 

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Australia prepares for Martian first contact

As NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission descends on Mars today, Australia’s facilities in Canberra and the legendary telescopic space mecca, Parkes will be yet again playing a significant role in space exploration history.

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), which the CSIRO manages on NASA's behalf, will be the main tracking station for landing activities. While the CSIRO's regional New South Wales based 64-m Parkes telescope – which broadcast the 1969 moon landing- will record signals directly from the spacecraft as a backup.

The CDSCC’s s 70-m and two 34-m antennas will receive signals from the spacecraft both directly and then relayed through another NASA spacecraft, Mars Odyssey, which is already in orbit around Mars.

The European Space Agency's New Norcia antenna near Perth in Western Australia will also receive signals for added redundancy from Curiosity via its Mars Express satellite also presently orbiting the red planet.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/05/mars_revelations_aus_first/