14 DAY TRIAL // Experts at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California have just completed a full dress rehearsal of what the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity will look and behave like when it lands on the Red Plant.
The event is scheduled to take place this August, after the mission launched in November. The MSL was taken to orbit aboard an Atlas V delivery system, which took off from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida.
During the course of the simulation, scientists basically replicated all conditions that will occur when Curiosity enters the Martian atmosphere at a steep angle. Its speed will be a lot higher than that of any other previous mission, primarily due to the angle of attack its large mass entailed.
The video above shows how the JPL team manages the parameters of reentry. They will have to do the exact same thing in a few months, this time for real.