What NASA and the science community will face as the probe with $2.5bn worth of hardware, and a decade of effort by astronomers lands on Mars this week. Thanks to Dennis Howlett saw this in The Guardian:
"From the top of the atmosphere of Mars to its surface, it will take seven minutes for the probe to descend. It also takes 14 minutes or so for the signal from the spacecraft to reach us, that's how far Mars is from Earth. So when we first get word that Curiosity has reached the top of the atmosphere, the vehicle will have already been on the surface – alive or dead – for at least seven minutes." As another engineer added: "I just hope seven is our lucky number."”
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