The “cheap” way was the way they landed the rovers, with the big bouncing ball. It was very clever but it doesn’t scale up very well. Also, it had its own complexities in getting the rover off the platform with deflated remnants of the cushions in haphazard arrangement. I believe one of them almost got hung up.
The “sky crane” is a modified version of the traditional rocket landing, but putting the rockets above the lander eliminates the problem of undocking the rover, and of course dispenses with the platform. The tricky part seems to me the quick release of the rover from the rocket assembly. Any kind of hangup at the point would be disastrous. I’m sure they’ve designed it with this in mind!
And btw, all these missions have web pages where you can peruse huge catalogues of raw images, promptly posted, and read the latest updates.
Just read on one of the science blogs that the
satellite NASA was going to use to observe
Curiositys entry and descent has gone off line.
they are working it but there may be no word till
Curiosity has landed.