Sky Crane Maneuver During Curiosity's Mars Descent Jigsaw Puzzle

Artist's concept showing the sky crane maneuver during the descent of Curiosity rover to the Martian surface. Mars Science Laboratory will use a guided entry and a sky crane touchdown system to land the hyper-capable, massive rover. In this scene, the spacecraft's descent stage, while controlling its own rate of descent with four of its eight throttle-controllable rocket engines, has begun lowering Curiosity on a bridle. The rover is connected to the descent stage by three nylon tethers and by an umbilical providing a power and communication connection.