Curiosity Rover Seen from Space incl. Parachute, Sky Crane & Heat Shield.

NASA's Curiosity Rover and its parachute photo was taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT), 2012.

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory
Rover Name: Curiosity Rover
Mission: To search areas of Mars for past or present conditions favorable for life, and conditions capable of preserving a record of life.
Size: About the size of a small SUV -- 10 feet long (not including the arm), 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall -- (about 3 meters long (not including the arm), 2.7 meters wide, and 2.2 meters tall) or about the height of a basketball player.
Arm Reach: About 7 feet (2.2 meters)
Weight: 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds)
Features: Geology lab, rocker-bogie suspension, rock-vaporizing laser and lots of cameras
Launch: 7:02 a.m. PST, Nov. 26, 2011 (10:02 a.m. EST)
Landing: 10:31 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5, 2012 (1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6, 2012)
Length of mission on Mars: The prime mission will last one Mars year or about 23 Earth months.

Tweets from AeroSpaceGuide Mars Landing Event

AeroSpaceGuide.net Curiosity Rover - Mars Landing Coverage started 12am GMT on 6 August 2012. These are some of the tweets when Curiosity landed.

=> Welcome to Mars.....Curiosity Rover.

=> May the Force be with you....Curiosity Rover.

=> Hello Curiosity on Mars....Good Nite from AeroSpaceGuide

=> Congrats NASA & Crew....thanks for ur hard work. Curiosity Rover.

Landing Procedure

Parachute DeployWhoosh! Out popped the parachute, about 255 seconds after entry and 7 miles (11 km) above the Martian surface. The parachute slowed the spacecraft down a lot more, about 9% of its original energy on atmospheric entry.

The landing marked the end of a 36-week flight from Earth and beginning of a two-year prime mission on Mars. Researchers will use Curiosity's 10 science instruments to investigate whether Martian environmental conditions have ever been favorable for microbial life.

Mars Science Laboratory....entry, descent and landing diagram.

How to Land on Mars - Curiosity Rover.

Curiosity Approaching Mars.

Challenge of Mars....Good Luck Curiosity.

Curiosity Communicating with Planet Earth

Curiosity landing

SkyCrane and Curiosity Rover.

Welcome to Mars - Curiosity Rover.

Curiosity Rover Landing Viewed from Mars Orbit.

Using the same shape and materials as past Mars landers and rovers, Curiosity's parachute is over two times larger by area than those used for the Mars Phoenix lander and the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

Books:
Mars: The Inside Story of the Red Planet  by Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest
from Amazon.co.uk

The Smithsonian Book of Mars by Joseph M. Boyce
from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World by Oliver Morton
from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

• Mars Exploration: Missions: Picture Source