Episode 55: 4 August 2012: Mars Curiosity Rover

Since the mid 1970s six spacecraft (Viking 1 & 2, Sojourner,
Opportunity, Spirit and Phoenix)  have successfully landed on
the surface of Mars. In probably the most audacious, breathtaking
and risky space missions, in less than two days, another  Mars
Curiosity Rover will arrive on Mars. Using a technique never used
before, NASA has described the Entry Decent Landing as the seven
minutes of terror. Launched in November 2011, the arrival of Mars
Curiosity will for the first time make a high precision landing
which is so crucial to its primary scientific goal of finding
evidence of earlier Martian environment that may have been suitable
for life. Also known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) it will
be supported by a pair of NASA satellites (Odyssey and Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) already in Martian orbit. Mars has
never been under so much human scrutiny. In addition to the still
functioning Opportunity, a rover on the surface of Mars (launched
in 2004) and the two NASA satellites, there is also the European
Space Agency’s Mars Express is also in Martian orbit. Dr Anita
Sengupta is a member of the Entry Decent Landing and Advanced
Technologies group at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In this interview
recorded on August 2nd via telephone from her office in JPL she
captures the sheer exhilaration of the dramatic entry decent and
landing phase  and describes her role in the Mars Curiosity
rover mission.