The Mars Curiosity Rover is now on the surface of Mars. During the seven minutes of terror that preceded touch down, all the stages had to work perfectly in sync, or the rover would have plunged into the surface. The first critical piece was the parachute.
Here’s Dr. Douglas Adams, MSL Parachute cognisant Engineer, to tell you why and how it works in this exclusive interview, recorded yesterday at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.