Now this is cool...

[Bob Schroeck]

Check out http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/17 ... _approved/]this article for CGI footage depicting how the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory robot is going to land.  I have no idea why it's necessary to lower it on a winch from a hovering crane, but it looks cool as hell.  Oh, and the video also shows it doing other stuff but it was the landing I wanted to rave about, especially since it's made using simulated hand-held camera footage, like Firefly's FX.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[M Fnord]

I have no idea why it's necessary to lower it on a winch from a hovering crane, but it looks cool as hell.

Well, the MSL is too big to land using airbags, so it needs braking rockets. Thing is, rockets plus fuel take up a lot of room and add a lot of dead weight. If you're building a static lander like Viking or Phoenix it's not that big of a deal, but when building a rover you've got to take that into account. The simplest way to do it is to put the landing jets on a seperate platform and then cram the rover full of more scientific goodies. As for why the crane, I'm guessing it's because the platform is easy half the size of the rover to begin with, and they don't want to risk landing it safely then watching as the thing falls off the platform 'cause a ramp failed to deploy or something.

Makes sense to *me*, but I tend to think about stuff like this too much.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

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"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Sweno]

they also mentioned that the hovering platform would allow themto be much more precise in where the lander touches down. Not having to design landing gear and
depend on the lander hitting the ground right side up also helps.
-Terry
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"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Bob Schroeck]

For a while I was thinking it was also to avoid contaminating the surface with rocket exhaust, but that's irrelevant as the probe can move.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.