On 6 August at 05:31 UTC, NASA's Curiosity rover is expected to alight at the bottom of Gale Crater on Mars. Please join Nature editor Ivan Semeniuk and reporter Eric Hand who will blog the event live from mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena, California, beginning at 03:00 UTC (8 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time) on 5 August. Full coverage of events as mission managers attempt the most complicated landing in the history of Mars exploration will be available on Nature's News blog and, for more, see the Mars Curiosity rover news special.

Artist's concept of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech