CNNW CNN Newsroom August 4, 2012
air bags and cushion them with air bags and land it on the surface. that was the tried and trued method. but this rover is the size of a car, 2,000 pounds. it's too big to do it any other way than what they're going to attempt in 36 hours. never before happen. and what they will do is hit the atmosphere at 13,200 miles an hour. they'll begin to slowdown. they'll be maneuvering through the atmosphere and then at some point will deploy a parra chute which will further slow the vehicle but not enough to get it on the ground safely. at that point they will fire some rockets on the spacec...