Did you miss out on the early days of the Curiosity rover mission? Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Felicia Day have you covered with this six-minute story on the Mars rover from conception through launch and landing to the discoveries made on the red planet.
You're huge into space — you watch every beautiful launch, get drawn into the mysteries of strange new worlds, and rotate through stunning astrophotography for your wallpapers. But maybe it's a new conversion to astro-love, and you weren't paying attention when Curiosity launched in 2011, or when it landed on Mars in 2012.
You've caught the first view of an asteroid from the surface of Mars, and saw Mercury transit the sun. But you missed all the initial fuss — the seven minutes of terror, the skyhook-landing, the justification for why this rover was different from Spirit and Opportunity anyway. This is your chance to catch up.
This six-minute video features a mix of animations and actual photographs from the rover's mission to Mars, narrated by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Felicia Day. It covers the history of the Curiosity rover from first conception and launch, up to some of the discoveries she's made from examining the rocks and landscapes of Mars.
The Curiosity Mars rover has been so successful that the same chassis is being used for the next generation of rover in 2020.