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Engineers brace for Mars rover's risky landing

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    Curiosity will have to endure '7 minutes of terror'

  • Duration 3:45
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But as soon learn a lot more about the potential for life on Mars when NASA lands it's curiosity rover on the red planet.

That landing set to take place late Sunday night.

Here's what a model of the rover looks like curiosity is the largest machine if anyone has ever sent to Mars it's roughly the size of a Mini Cooper.

The rover weighs more than a -- with six metal wheels and one powerful robotic arm.

And to analyze and pick up martian rocks and the success or failure of curiosity could set the stage for future missions to Mars but it may not be easy for curiosity.

To stick the landing a rover out we'll have to endure what scientists have nicknames or minutes of terror.

Slowing down from -- speed of thirteen thousand miles per hour.

To zero with the help of a giant parachute and it'll need to touch down at precisely the rights behind.

With us -- -- homer hit -- a former NASA engineer his bestselling memoir rocket boys became the basis for the film.

October sky Fulmer always great to talk to you -- mean you see this six minutes of terror or seven minutes of terror and you think wow.

This thing's going to be tricky do we make it or not.

Well here -- NASA I think we'd call that a real time flight readiness review it's at K forget the Olympics you know.

Well.

In -- America's going for the gold on Mars Sunday night and used Trace.

Need of the American people the whole world we're gonna hit that atmosphere.

And up to 20000 miles an hour we're gonna go down we're gonna skip around -- the atmosphere we're gonna pop bad shape.

There are gonna throw away -- issues we're gonna turn on the jets that I -- or 76 pyro -- going on.

We're gonna cover a couple of miles away.

From gale crater we're gonna land we're -- lower that rover on some chords until the wheels touching ground we got to cut -- -- then.

-- they yes guy that's gonna fly away and America is going to be on Mars.

And -- and like getting Douglas man we're gonna stick that two billion dollar landing right there and march you know we talk about.

Homer how that the reason this is down there are so we can look for.

Any signs or any elements that that life once existed on Mars in your estimation what's the smoking gun what does this have to pick up to say you know.

We found.

Well here's a real cool thing about this that greater -- the gale crater.

It's like looking at the Grand Canyon a great big asteroid came crashing -- -- Martha millions the years ago and it basically dugout.

A big hole in the ground so we can see all the -- -- time.

So the curiosity is gonna go look at all that different strata gonna look at where the -- have flown flown down obviously water has been into that crater and then they're gonna go over there and look a little bit -- see what kind of organic compounds we can pick up.

I mean who knows we may be able to say right away who've been used to be life on Mars it may take a little while but the main thing he has that we have this wonderful one -- -- -- Yeah I before I let you go homer I wanna get your your take on you know private companies soon trying its shuttle astronauts back and forth to the space station so NASA can go.

To -- on other.

Planets universe is -- where would you like to see NASA go next.

Well I really like what -- I think they did that today they let the contract for active commercial human spaceflight go Boeing picked it up SpaceX one of my favorite companies in the world in on left hand them out.

Great rocket boys and girls Sierra Nevada with their dream chaser.

It's I think we're gonna right direction now we should've done it before we shouldn't let the shuttle closed down without -- replacement.

But now these commercial companies are gonna pick up the slack so it's great thank you.

-- -- can always great to see is sir thank you much thank.

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