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7 Minutes of Terror: The Challenges of Getting to Mars

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · 3.2M views · 2012-06-22 · 5:08

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Overview

NASA JPL engineers explain the final minutes of the Curiosity rover's entry, descent and landing on Mars, which combined aerobraking, a parachute and a skycrane. It lays out the tight sequence of events that all had to work automatically.

On Hacker News

HN repeatedly recommends it as an awe-inspiring example of engineering problem solving and the go-to explainer on how Mars landings work.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2016–2021

Topics

Space exploration & spaceflightRobotics
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curiosity roverskycraneentry descent landingnasa jplspace engineering

What people said

underseacables · 2021-02 · Strong recommendation

If you have not watched the seven minutes of terror video produced by NASA, you absolutely must. It details exactly how they put these amazing machines on the surface of Mars. [VIDEO]

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nicholasjon · 2016-10 · Strong recommendation

Reminds of the "Seven Minutes of Terror" video that NASA put out ahead of the Curiosity landing explaining how they intended to make it safely to the surface. [VIDEO] (Note: I get goosebumps every time I watch this, absolutely amazing problem solving.)

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overlordalex · 2021-02 · Recommendation

JPL produced a video titled "7 minutes of terror" that detailed the landing procedure they used for Curiosity, and it's worth a watch. It goes into detail on everything you see in the articles landing video: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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