Citius, Altius, Fortius: Interplanetary Edition

In the middle of the ongoing Olympiad, the most impressive performance under pressure this week was not an archer fighting crosswinds or an gymnast trying to land a twisting tumble on a four inch wide beam. The gold medal goes to the team of engineers and scientists who conceived, programmed and built the landing system for the Curiosity Mars lander that touched down successfully last night.

The mind-blowingly complex entry and landing sequence was, as one commentator put it, the Cirque du Soleil of spacecraft landings.  The "7 Minutes of Terror" is well-documented, but no less incredible for it.  In addition to the usual firey transit into planetary atmosphere that every spacecraft must endure, the Curiosity would also employ a massive supersonic parachute and rocket thrusters to slow the craft.  The seemingly redundant systems were necessary because the Curiosity rover is the size and weight of a small car, too large to be carried to the surface by parachute or airbags (as were its rover predecessors).  The problem with retro-rockets, though, is the dust they kick up, which could damage the rover.  The obvious solution for delivering the payload to the ground without unduly disturbing the surface with rocket blast, of course, is to lower the rover from the remainder of the spacecraft on tethers.  Once the rover is on the ground, the tethers are automatically clipped and the spacecraft rockets away to crash land somewhere else.  Through it all, two other Mars satellites would be reconfigured to track the rover and assist with communications since Curiosity would touch down on the far side of Mars, away from a direct line of sight to Earth.

This Rube Golbergian system had all of JPL understandably nervous as the final countdown approached Sunday night. Many Mars missions with far simpler landing systems had failed in the past, and there was nothing the flight controllers on the ground could do to correct any problems that might arise since the entire operation was under computer control.

Their programming was bug free.  Against seemingly heavy odds, the Curiosity was "wheels down on Mars" at the appointed time and place.  Many nerdy hugs and high fives were exchanged in the JPL command center.

I spent my evening riveted to the NASA TV feed of the last hour of the flight, even while the rest of the family watched the Olympics.  The ability of mere humans, many of whom are now younger than I am, to design and build a spacecraft to successfully perform so many complex maneuvers never fails to inspire me.  The JPL control room, which erupted in applause every time each milestone was reached and became an unabashed party zone after the landing, may not exhibit the stoic professionalism of a Houston mission control under the direction of Gene Krantz, but the ability of the engineers and programmers is undeniable and equal to the best feats of the manned space era.  Here's to years of new images and discoveries from the Curiosity rover.