Where and How to watch the Curiosity Landing

So, you have heard about MSL Curiosity, the most audacious probe/rover/thing sent to another world by humanity. Its scheduled to land on Mars in under two days (1 day and 13 hours, as of this post). So, how can one watch this marvelous, historical undertaking...LIVE? Turns out NASA has prepared and rolled out several methods with which you can participate, including smartphones and video game consoles.

The first step is to find out AT WHAT LOCAL TIME CURIOSITY WILL LAND for your area. Easy. Click here on this map to figure that out (map provided by @pillownaut of pillownaut.blogspot.com).

Now, choose your preferred device or source.

NASA MSL Cursiosity Mission Homepage
NASA TV
NASA JPL Ustream Channel 1 (with commentary)
NASA JPL Ustream Channel 2 (uninterrupted)
Follow @MarsCuriosity on Twitter for live updates
Watch the Curiosity Landing on Xbox Live
Watch with Ustream on Android
Watch using the NASA TV app on Android
Watch with NASA TV app on iOS
In Los Angeles area? Go to Planetfest, set up by the Planetary Society
Use this map to find Curiosity Landing Parties in your area (set up by @Pillownaut)
Follow #GoCuriosity on Twitter for live conversation during the landing
Live Google+ hangout with Fraser Cain, Pamela gay, Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) as well as other guests from the Planetary Society and the SETI Institute
Check out the awesome event site http://getcurious.com/ (has a wicked countdown splash page)
Worldwide Landing parties

Fingers crossed, ladies and gentlemen...MSL Curiosity promises to be one of the greatest achievements in NASA history, and certainly among the greatest in the history of Humanity. #GoCuriosity

MSL Curiosity to Land in 20 Days

For those of you who might not have heard, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity - the most advanced human-made object ever sent to another world - will be landing on Mars Aug 6 2012 at approximately 1:31AM Eastern Daylight Time, or if you prefer, 10:31 pm Aug 5 2012 on the West Coast (or, more appropriately 5:30 am UTC).

While its true that we've been to Mars before, gigantic questions still linger unapologetically in our faces...Questions like, "Did Mars ever have life?" or "Was Mars truly ever a wet planet?" or "Can Mars support Human colonization?" or "What happened to Mars, to its magnetosphere, to turn a perfectly good world into a cold, barren platform for the political maneuvers of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen?"

The fact is, we know very, very little still about our nearest planetary neighbor. What we can tease out of Mars over the next few years with Curiosity is going to add much to the Search for Life, to our understanding of what is required of a rocky planet to support the creation of life. Mars and Earth are so very similar in many ways, so much so that it appears now, in this pre-Curiosity period, that we are dealing with a kind of Tale of Two Planets. Earth and Mars both seemingly started in the same situation billions of years ago and took two different paths in their planetary lives - Earth headed for the whole teeming-with-life gig while Mars got the Tatooine treatment.