Well, it's now a bit over six hours until the second NASA Mars rover, Opportunity enters the martian atmosphere and finally lands at Meridiani Planum around 9:05 pm PST. Im going to watch the event again - live from NASA TV, as I did when Spirit landed.
I hope the landing is as successful as the previous one. I also hope they will be able to get the rover off the lander faster than before. The original plan was to get the rover off in five to six days.. but I guess that was overly optimistic, at least for the first rover, but might be done now that they have learned more.
Mars Exploration Rover Mission Home
NASA TV - (rm sources)
Simulated view from Opportunity, 5 hours before landing :
I hope the landing is as successful as the previous one. I also hope they will be able to get the rover off the lander faster than before. The original plan was to get the rover off in five to six days.. but I guess that was overly optimistic, at least for the first rover, but might be done now that they have learned more.
Mars Exploration Rover Mission Home
NASA TV - (rm sources)
Simulated view from Opportunity, 5 hours before landing :