I love NASA, but it’s been dark days for them under Obama, I hope this thing makes it, but for 2.5 billion, I don’t know if I’d risk such a complex landing, but it probably brought the cost down, that’s why they are tempting it. I’m cheering for them, I love robotic space exploration, I just wish they would be more proactive with coverage after landing, it seems they stop after awhile, these missions are what make space worth exploring!
The “cheap” way was the way they landed the rovers, with the big bouncing ball. It was very clever but it doesn’t scale up very well. Also, it had its own complexities in getting the rover off the platform with deflated remnants of the cushions in haphazard arrangement. I believe one of them almost got hung up.
The “sky crane” is a modified version of the traditional rocket landing, but putting the rockets above the lander eliminates the problem of undocking the rover, and of course dispenses with the platform. The tricky part seems to me the quick release of the rover from the rocket assembly. Any kind of hangup at the point would be disastrous. I’m sure they’ve designed it with this in mind!
And btw, all these missions have web pages where you can peruse huge catalogues of raw images, promptly posted, and read the latest updates.
It’s expensive, but what’s 2.5 bil compared to all the other waste? Anyway, if they can do this, they should think about sending something to Mars that can return to Earth with soil samples. That would be cool.