The Mars rover Curiosity is on course to touch down at about 10:30 p.m. PDT tonight.
NASA's live online coverage begins at 8 p.m. PDT at http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv. Commentary begins on the NASA channel at 8:30 p.m. PDT. You may also watch at nasa.gov.
Curiosity Details
The landing of the Curiosity, also know as the Mars Science Laboratory, is detailed in NASA's aptly named video called 7 Minutes of Terror, attached above.
The complex spacecraft encapsulating the rover must deal with the 16,000 degrees of heat generated by entering the planet's atmosphere at 13,000 mph. A parachute will slow it down. It will all happen in seven minutes, on autopilot.
Because of the time delay caused by Mars' current distance of more than 150 million miles, scientists and viewers around the world won't know if the landing has been a success or failure for another seven minutes.
The real work doesn't begin until Curiosity is on the ground. The rover, which is the size of a SUV, will search for signs of microscopic life in the Martian soil.
