7 minutes of glory as NASA lands rover on Mars

This is one of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars Monday, Aug. 6, 2012, CT. The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has been sprung open. Part of the spring that released the dust cover can be seen at the bottom right, near the rover's wheel. On the top left, part of the rover's power supply is visible. The cameras are looking directly into the sun, so the top of the image is saturated. less This is one of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars Monday, Aug. 6, 2012, CT. The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has been sprung open. Part of ... more Photo: ., NASA/JPL-Caltech Photo: ., NASA/JPL-Caltech Image 1 of / 41 Caption Close 7 minutes of glory as NASA lands rover on Mars 1 / 41 Back to Gallery

Engineers who designed the daredevil landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars described it as "crazy," "terrifying" and "unprecedented."

Here's one more adjective they can now add: successful.

Early Monday NASA safely dropped the 1-ton rover, the largest ever, on the surface of Mars. The space agency now has a mobile chemical laboratory the size of a Volkswagen Beetle patrolling the surface of the Red Planet.

The challenge engineers faced was immense, slowing the spacecraft carrying Curiosity from a speed of 13,000 mph to zero in seven minutes, all the while flying through an atmosphere just 1 percent the thickness of Earth's. Half of the landers previously sent to Mars failed.

But not this time.

The mission control room erupted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory half an hour after midnight Monday morning - arms raised, cheers and hugs all around - as it became clear that Curiosity landed safely.

"The Seven Minutes of Terror has turned into the Seven Minutes of Triumph," said NASA Associate Administrator for Science, John Grunsfeld.

A few minutes later, the first images came in, showing one of Curiosity's wheels under a late afternoon sun on the rocky surface of Mars. More detailed images and video should arrive in the next few days as engineers carefully start the rover's systems.

"Surface team, our fun has begun," declared Mike Watkins, a mission manager for the rover.

Space Center party

NASA administrator Charles Bolden praised the complicated and technical landing, which included a parachute and untried sky-crane to lower Curiosity to the ground at a rate of less than 1 meter per second.

"This is an amazing achievement, made possible by a team of scientists and engineers from around the world and led by the extraordinary men and women of NASA and our Jet Propulsion Laboratory," Bolden said.

At Space Center Houston, just before the landing, a mock-up of the rover descended from the ceiling under disco lights. As speakers blared Kanye West's song Champion, the crowd of 1,500 began a jubilant celebration.

For a harried U.S. space program, Monday morning's landing was full of win.

The technically challenging landing shows that NASA is still capable of great achievements, said John Logsdon, a space policy expert.

"The spectacular success of the Curiosity landing reinforces the reality that NASA remains a truly excellent organization," he said.

Packed with equipment

Five times the size of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers already on Mars, Curiosity is packed with scientific equipment: HD-resolution cameras that can capture video; a laser than can ignite a spark on rocks 20 feet away to determine what they're made of; and other high-tech tools including an X-ray diffraction setup, a mass spectrometer and a gas chromatograph.

With these devices the six-wheeled rover will be able to sample hundreds of layers of sedimentary rock during the next two years, allowing scientists to understand how the surface of Mars changed over time, and providing a detailed history of the Red Planet and clues to whether life could have flourished there.

After traveling 350 million miles across space Curiosity landed within 200 meters of its target, near the foot of a mountain three miles tall and 96 miles in diameter inside Gale Crater.

Scientists believe this region was rich in water in the past.

eric.berger@chron.com

twitter.com/chronsciguy