How the Most Important Parachute In the Solar System Works

In just a few hours the Mars Curiosity Rover will be on the surface of Mars. During the seven minutes of terror that will precede touch down, many things must work perfectly. The first critical piece is the parachute.

Here's Dr. Douglas Adams, MSL Parachute Cognizant Engineer, to tell you why and how it works in this exclusive Gizmodo interview, recorded yesterday at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

I'm going to live blog the landing live from the JPL later tonight, starting around 12:30am ET/9:30pm PT.

Gizmodo is covering the Mars Curiosity rover live from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Check all the articles here.