TAKING SHAPE... Photos were recently released online showing that NASA’s next Red Planet rover, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), is finally becoming a reality as construction takes place at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. MSL is scheduled to launch on September 15, 2009, and will arrive at Mars between July 10 and September 14, 2010. For more information on why the arrival period lasts this long, click here.
As you can see from the photo above, the MSL is gonna be one huge vehicle. If the size of the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity can be compared to All-Terrain Vehicles, then the MSL can be compared to a Mini Cooper. Or even a Scion XB, haha.
Of course, the main reason why I’m talking about MSL is because of this. Spirit and Opportunity both carry the names of 4 million people and the Phoenix lander has 250,000 names onboard. And I believe the Sojourner rover that landed with Pathfinder on Mars in 1996 also carried the names of some well-wishers. There’s no reason why NASA wouldn’t allow the public to submit names to be placed on the largest moving land vehicle ever sent to the Red Planet. Or another world for that matter. *Crosses fingers.*
All images courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech
MSL Mission Highlight Video on Youtube:
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