Mars Lander
Mission to Mars

Mission to Mars

NASA Plan the Most Audacious Voyage

A Horizon Special

This is one of the most sophisticated space vehicles ever built. Curiosity is a billion-dollar rover. In six days time, it will attempt to touch down on Mars.

"Landing a big rover is a tough business. It means that everything about the system gets bigger and therefore harder."

This will be no ordinary landing. It will be winched down by a crane hovering in the Martian sky.

"It's so ambitious, it's so audacious, it's so unconventional."

Sophisticated Mars Rover
Billion Dollar Rover

Horizon has been behind the scenes with NASA's team as they follow their rover across 350 million miles of space.

"When Curiosity comes over the horizon, this guy is already pointed that direction and that she comes up, then we're talking."

Hovering Space Crane
Audacious Landing Plan

Curiosity's mission is to discover if Mars could ever have supported life. But the Red Planet has become known as the Bermuda Triangle of space. Two-thirds of missions there have ended in failure. In just under a week, the world will learn if Curiosity can overcome the odds and touch down on Mars.