The vehicle, known as Curiosity, was launched from Earth in November last year and is now nearing the end of a 560-million-km journey across space. To reach its intended touch-down zone in a deep equatorial crater, the machine must enter the atmosphere at a very precise point on the sky. Engineers told reporters on Thursday that they were close to a bulls-eye. A slight course correction - the fourth since launch - was instigated last Saturday, and the latest analysis indicates Curiosity will be no more than a kilometre from going straight down its planned "keyhole". The team's confidence is such that it may pass up the opportunity to make a further correction on Friday. "We are about to land a small compact car on the surface with a trunk-load of instruments. This is a pretty amazing feat getting ready to happen. It's exciting, it's daring - but it's fantastic," said Doug McCuistion, the head of Nasa's Mars programme. Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19107577
