I’d say that the craziest way of landing a rover on Mars is still the giant airbag bouncing and rolling method, but the ‘Sky Crane’ system that’ll be setting Curiosity down on the red planet in 2012 is pretty nuts. The above video shows the first test of Curiosity (or rather, the test model of the rover) deploying from the Sky Crane system, which gives a good idea of how the final landing is going to work.

On Mars, the Sky Crane will be supporting itself using rockets, and when Curiosity hits the ground, the cabling will detach from the crane using a set of pyros. The Sky Crane then flies off and crashes somewhere (sad), while Curiosity gets busy exploring. Here’s a rendering of the process:

This first test bodes well, but it’s still going to be a pretty hairy thing, and I’m going to keep my fingers and toes preemptively crossed between now and the landing just in case.

This just in: trying to touch type with crossed fingers is bizarre and doesn’t work.

[ Curiosity ]

PASADENA, Calif. — The rover Curiosity, which NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission will place on Mars in August 2012, has been rolling over ramps in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to test its mobility system. The suspension system on NASA Mars rover Curiosity easily accommodates rolling over a ramp in this Sept. 10, 2010, test drive inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Curiosity uses the same type of six-wheel, rocker-bogie suspension system as previous Mars rovers, for handling uneven terrain during drives. Its wheels are half a meter (20 inches) in diameter, twice the height of the wheels on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers currently on Mars.

Pimpin’. Those Martians gonna be jealous.

[ JPL ]

Now Curiosity‘s got something to smack those pesky Martians upside da head with. And, you know, for doing, like, science experiments and stuff.

[ MSL ]

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, aka Curiosity, is currently undergoing assembly and testing. Scheduled for a 2011 launch, Curiosity is way bigger, and capable of a lot more science, than either little Sojourner or not-so-little Opportunity (which is still going, by the way).

It must be pretty stressful to be an engineer working on MSL, knowing that at some point you just have to say, “okay, looks good” and then the robot takes off for Mars and there’s nothing more you can do, ever. And for better or worse, Spirit and Opportunity have set some pretty high (I’m not sure whether to say “unrealistic”) standards for durability and performance. I’m optimistic, though, and as long as the crazy landing scheme works out, MSL has tons of potential. Video of the robotic “skycrane” that’ll set Curiosity down on the surface of Mars, after the jump. (Read more…)