Skip to content
0:00 / 0:00

#curiosity#marslanding#jpl

7 Minutes of Terror: The Challenges of Getting to Mars

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

1.2M subscribers • 1 video on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 5 people: 5 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2016 to 2021.

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

3.2M views14 years ago5 recommendations

Systems programmingHardwareEmbedded systemsAlgorithms

NASA JPL engineers explain the complex, automated entry, descent, and landing sequence of the Curiosity Mars rover.

Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover's final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars.

Why it's here

5 people recommend this

What people say. Engineers point to this video as a thrilling and clear demonstration of extreme systems engineering and automated sequence design.

nicholasjonon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter views Schiaparelli landing site”

Reminds of the "Seven Minutes of Terror" video that NASA put out ahead of the Curiosity landing explaining how they intended to make it safely to the surface. link to this video (Note: I get goosebumps every time I watch this, absolutely amazing problem solving.)

underseacableson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Mars landing: Photo shows Perseverance rover during landing”

If you have not watched the seven minutes of terror video produced by NASA, you absolutely must. It details exactly how they put these amazing machines on the surface of Mars. link to this video

radiorentalon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Visual Programming Doesn’t Suck”

> I still haven't seen any case for visual programming. Aerodef, automotive, etc all use some form of visual programming. Controls engineers rarely write code, the systems are way too complex. E.g. I highly recommend watching this video from JPL to give you an understanding of where such tools excel. It's about simulating, iterating and then having scientists and engineers autogenerate the code they couldn't possibly write or test link to this video

DuskStaron Hacker News • Recommends

On “The SpaceX Starship is a big deal”

Curiosity used aerobraking, parachutes AND a skycrane to land. There's a great video here: link to this video Previous solutions weren't used because they were less crazy, but because they were more mass efficient for "small" payload sizes.

overlordalexon Hacker News • Recommends

On “NASA's Perseverance rover will attempt to land on Mars this week”

JPL produced a video titled "7 minutes of terror" that detailed the landing procedure they used for Curiosity, and it's worth a watch. It goes into detail on everything you see in the articles landing video: link to this video

JetDogRushon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Breaks Observed in Rover Wheel Treads”

Surprisingly the wheels only weigh a few pounds each! (I still can't think in metric and I don't have a real number.) They were primarily constrained by packing volume during cruise ( link ) and then by shock loads as the securing pyrobolts blew during landing ( link to this video ).

willglynnon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Hubble Space Telescope Is In Safe Mode After Gyro Failure”

There's a video showing the JWST deployment sequence. It's set to calm orchestral music, and the visuals are just 3D renters of the spacecraft. link This video makes me far more nervous than "7 Minutes of Terror", depicting Curiosity's entry/descent/landing sequence. Far more things have to go right in order for JWST to become operational. link to this video

Robotbeaton Hacker News • Mentions

On “NASA plans to launch a spacecraft to Titan”

Yup. The robotic program has a very good track record of successes, even for crazy stuff like the Mars Science Laboratory’s sky crane descent stage: link to this video It’s the human spaceflight program that has had the, um, difficulties. There are signs of hope, though.

layoricon Hacker News • Mentions

On “NASA's Curiosity rover: 3k days on Mars”

For perceiving the events happening, sure, that was my point. These time differences are nearly always imperceptible but at distances of planets it truly becomes a way of looking into the past. But to be clear, events happen concurrently, eg NASA knew _when_ relative to earth time and _perceived_ events, each stage was "happening" local to Mars vs Earth (assuming it all went well). They made videos about this "7 minutes of terror", I forgot the name of them but linking here 0 0 link to this video