NASA's Curiosity rover is expected to land on the surface of Mars on Monday, August 6. If you're in NYC, and don't mind the bustle of Times Square, you'll be able to watch the landing live on the two gigantic Toshiba Vision displays used in the New Year's Eve countdown. Footage of the landing will begin streaming on Sunday, August 5 at 11 PM and run until 4 AM Monday morning. If you can't make it to Times Square, you can catch the landing on your computer via NASA's UStream page.
The Curiosity's landing is kind of like a big deal for NASA. For the first time, the agency will not wrap its rover in an airbag and drop it onto the surface. This go around, the Curiosity will use an autonomous system that involves a high-tech parachute and a skycrane that will lower the rover to the surface. It's a new procedure than may not work. NASA has gone on record to say that the hardest part of the entire mission is making sure the rover touches down on the surface. Before it's able to to do so, Curiosity will go through "seven minutes of terror" where it will experience extremely high temperatures and speeds.
