Updated: Vernon Library to Host Mars Rover Workshop for Kids

The Mars rover Curiosity is on course to land on Earth Sunday night.

But don't worry, the car-sized robot hasn't wandered 152 million miles off its trajectory. NASA has arranged viewing parties all across the country for the public to watch the all-or-nothing touchdown of their most ambitious Mars mission yet. 

But you'll have to stay up late. Touchdown is expected around 12:30 a.m. Aug. 7. Viewing parties will be held in various places around the country, with the largest one planned in Times Square. There's also a free viewing party Sunday night at the Adler Planetarium.

Locally, kids will have another chance to witness the landing. Post-viewing workshops will be held at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday at . Registration is limited, and is open only to those who are entering fifth through ninth grades. Visit the library's website for more information.

Curiosity, also know as the Mars Science Laboratory, has a pretty exciting time ahead of it. It's detailed in NASA's aptly named video called "7 Minutes of Terror."

The complex spacecraft encapsulating the rover must deal with the 16,000 degrees of heat generated by entering the planet's atmosphere at 13,000 mph. A parachute will slow it down.

It will all happen in seven minutes — on autopilot.

Because of the time delay caused by Mars' current distance of more than 150 million miles, scientists and viewers around the world won't know if the landing has been a success or failure for another seven minutes.

Talk about a nail-biter.

The real work doesn't begin until Curiosity is on the ground. The rover, which is the size of a SUV, will search for signs of microscopic life in the Martian soil. And if the most optimistic hopes for the mission come true, this machine could finally answer one of the greatest questions ever asked.

Are we alone?

Note: A previous version of this story said there will be a public viewing party at Meridian Middle School. That event will not be held.