Curiousity Rover's Mars Landing

[Plenum]

This is the largest robotic explorer sent yet, so they had to figure out another way of getting it down. This is a computer animation of the landing that will be attempted next week.

on a related note Richard, I have always wondered if the quarantine around Earth works both ways; ie, stuff has to be approved before it gets in, and stuff has to be approved before it GETS OUT.

We seem to be able to send probes and instrumentation into space, and have even dropped some humans onto the Moon. I wonder if humans would be allowed to leave the Earth-Moon sphere.