Mars - Curiosity: 7 Minutes of Terror

[ImpulsE69]

This came out today

http://earthsky.org/space/on-desert-mars-vastly-more-interior-water-than-previously-thought

 

[PottedMeat]

What I have always been more interested in, is when MSL cuts itself from the umbilical to the rocket platform, the platform flies off and crashes somewhere. There are some intriguing points that this brings up in regards to tainting martian soil.

is the sky crane told to die at a specific location or just 'go far away'? does it transmit its own telemetry until it crashes? i guess that data could be useful for something.

they should send it over to viking after the mission and see what's up.

 

[ussfletcher]

is the sky crane told to die at a specific location or just 'go far away'? does it transmit its own telemetry until it crashes? i guess that data could be useful for something.

they should send it over to viking after the mission and see what's up.

It has a flight/crash routine, which makes sure that it wont harm the lander itself. Other than that I believe it uses almost all of its fuel lowering the lander, and after the umbilical is cut it serves no purpose so just leaves the vicinity.