NASA is getting close to landing another automated rover on Mars. After a journey from Earth that took several months, the rover known as Curiosity is scheduled to make its landing on the red planet early on Monday morning (Eastern Time). Xbox 360 owners will be able to check out the action "live" (or 14 minutes after the landing, due to the time delay).

Major Nelson reports that Microsoft has set up a special Mars Rover section of the Xbox 360's dashboard for the event. Xbox Live users can check out more information about Curiosity's mission, which, if it lands successfully, will be searching for life on Mars for the next two years. The Mars Rover dashboard will also be the place for Xbox 360 owners to check out the streaming video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Monday morning as Curiosity makes its landing attempt.

Xbox 360 users can also download the free Mars Rover Landing game which lets people try their own luck in landing the Curiosity rover on Mars. The Kinect-supported game also includes Xbox Live achievements along with new Xbox Live avatar items to collect.

Source: Major Nelson | Image via Microsoft