One of the biggest risks of the Mars landing is the potential of crashing into a giant rock. "Internationally, fewer than half the (landing) attempts have succeeded," said NASA's Weiler. But for this landing, detailed images from a high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter could help find a safe spot.
NASA has mapped the potential landing area in grids to count the number of rocks in each one. Bright green shows areas with the fewest number of rocks.
Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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