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Nasa’s science rover Perseverance, the most advanced astrobiology laboratory ever sent to another world, streaked through the Martian atmosphere on Thursday and landed safely on the floor of a vast crater, its first stop on a search for traces of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. Mission managers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles burst into applause and cheers as radio signals confirmed that the six-wheeled rover had survived its perilous descent and arrived within its target zone inside Jezero crater, site of a long-vanished Martian lake bed. The robotic vehicle sailed through space for nearly...

Here's some running commentary leading up to the landing. If there are other links that are better please post for the forum.

Watch the Feb. 18 Landing Broadcast Tune in live at 11:15 a.m. PST / 2:15 p.m. EST / 19:15 UTC - Main Commentary: embedded above or scroll down for a list of alternate platforms. - Spanish Language: we have a one-hour program all in Spanish (starts at 11:30 a.m. PST) - 360-degree Stream: for an immersive look at our control room try the 360-degree view Clean Feed: if you are doing your own programming or if you want to see uninterrupted video of the landing, try the clean feed (starts at 11 a.m. PST)

NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance, the most advanced robotic astrobiology lab ever flown to another world, neared the end of its seven-month, 293-million-mile (470-million-km) journey on Wednesday, on target for a daredevil landing attempt on the red planet.

Explanation: How hard is it to land safely on Mars? So hard that many more attempts have failed than succeeded. The next attempt will be on Thursday. The main problem is that the Martian atmosphere is too thick to ignore -- or it will melt your spacecraft. On the other hand, the atmosphere is too thin to rely on parachutes -- or your spacecraft will crash land. Therefore, as outlined in the featured video, the Perseverance lander will lose much of its high speed by deploying a huge parachute, but then switch to rockets, and finally, assuming everything goes right,...

She’s called “Perseverance” and after a 140 million mile journey, will land on the planet Mars on Thursday, February 18.That is, if all goes well.In truth, even getting to Mars has proven to be a fraught enterprise. Roughly half of the 49 missions sent to Mars by all nations have failed. The U.S. has a pretty good record of successes, but the failures have been notable. The Mars Climate Orbiter was supposed to reach Mars in 1999, but burned up in the atmosphere of the red planet when software instructions to the engines were discovered to have been written using...

Thanks to a remarkable combination of engineering and mathematics, a NASA satellite in orbit around Mars was able to capture this picture of the split second when Curiosity fell from the skies to its successful landing on the surface of the red planet.

In a statement issued by the White House in the early morning hours Monday, President Obama congratulated NASA for the successful landing of the rover Curiosity on Mars. "Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history," he said in the statement. "The successful landing of Curiosity - the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet - marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future. It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and...

NASA's most advanced Mars rover Curiosity has landed on the Red Planet. The one-ton rover, hanging by ropes from a rocket backpack, touched down onto Mars Sunday to end a 36-week flight and begin a two-year investigation. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft that carried Curiosity succeeded in every step of the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars, including the final severing of the bridle cords and flyaway maneuver of the rocket backpack.

A spectacular image of the Curiosity rover descending to the surface of Mars on its parachute has been obtained by an overflying satellite. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter played a key role in Monday's (GMT) historic landing by recording telemetry from the robot as it approached the ground.

PASADENA, Calif. — In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet’s past. Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

Wheels down, Curiosity has made it to the surface of Mars.

Odyssey has safely landed on Mars and is transmitting photos.

Two top space officials pledged Sunday afternoon to continue the exploration of Mars in years to come – regardless of whether NASA’s Curiosity rover survives its dramatic landing later tonight. “We are committed to a Mars exploration program,” NASA Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld said. ... “This is a message to the whole world: We are to dare mighty things, even if we might fail,” Elachi said. “Every explorer has had tough days. It was never easy.” The officials conceded that much is riding on the success of the Curiosity mission tonight. Elachi called Curiosity “a very important element of the...

Video Linky Here

Landing at 10:30PM Pacific...yes, this is early so all the aviation, space, astronomy and science pingers can "get 'er done".

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. Video with interviews with the designers and excellent computer animations can be viewed at the link: "DARE MIGHTY THINGS"

This will be the official thread for the Phoenix Mars Lander..

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said today that the capture of Saddam Hussein does nothing to change her opposition to the war in Iraq. "I believe we should have had a congressional vote before declaring war, and we should have allowed U.N. inspectors time to finish their work," Jackson Lee said during a news conference at Bush Intercontinental Airport. "As to WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), the fact they have not been found I believe shows I was right." One of the more outspoken congressional critics of the war in Iraq, Jackson Lee had returned to Houston from a...