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comment by thenewgreen
thenewgreen  ·  5005 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Mars Curiosity rover just launched.
I guess I assumed that they were positioned where they were due to some sort of strategic importance which might mean curiosity was headed there for the same reason. It really is exciting, isn't it? I look forward to it's findings. Safe travels!! 9 months is a while.




mk  ·  5005 days ago  ·  link  ·  
The landing site is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory#Landing...

It's about 14 sq miles. So even if they did shoot for one of the previous rovers, they might have a very long drive ahead of them.

Here's a map of the previous Mars landings, and crashes:

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/marsprobemap.html

Curiosity will be closest to Spirit, but not in driving distance:

http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Gale_(cr...

Jay  ·  5002 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Very cool that the launch was successful but am gonna hold breath till landing...
mk  ·  5002 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Yeah, it freaks me out. Landing a car on Mars is not simple stuff.

It will be so amazing if they pull it off.