Mars Curiosity Sky Crane
The most audacious landing yet.
Most previous Mars landers used airbag cushions to prevent damage during touch-down. The Curiosity rover was too heavy for airbags, so a team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory created the sky crane. On August 5, the crane successfully lowered Curiosity 65 feet, using three nylon tethers, from a thruster-powered platform to the Martian surface. NASA may well turn to the system, which is scalable for different crafts, on future missions to Mars.
1 Comment
To comment, please Login.
More Aerospace
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Asteroid Anchors
Robotic feet meet rocky surfaces. » Read
Grand Award Winner: Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max
This chopper can save soldiers with limited human intervention. » Read
Red Bull Stratos Pressure Suit
This is how a space diver suits up. » Read
NASA Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory
Two probes on a mission. » Read
Boeing PhantomEye
A drone powered by liquid hydrogen. » Read
University Of Pennsylvania Nano Quadrotor Robots
Airborne robots with incredible capabilities. » Read
Solazyme Solajet
The beginning of biofuel flight. » Read
Northrup Grumman Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle
The military's first successful hybrid airship. » Read
NASA PhoneSat
A satellite that uses a cell phone as a central processor. » Read
Mars Curiosity Sky Crane
The most audacious landing yet. » Read
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2012 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Why does the link to the page after this point to an "Access Denied" page? Is the 11th project that classified?
And your spam detector is being stupid.