NASA / JPL - Caltech
CURIOSITY Update, Part 2... While the Curiosity rover itself has just begun to take shape within an assembly building at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, the rest of the hardware that makes up NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission has pretty much been ready for launch since early last year. MSL’s entry vehicle, which comprises of the ‘aeroshell’ in which Curiosity will safely reside during the 8-month-plus journey to the Red Planet, as well as the cruise stage that will both power and steer the spacecraft during its interplanetary voyage, were tested within a ‘thermal vacuum chamber’ at JPL. Inside the vacuum chamber, the entry vehicle was subjected to the intense vibrations that it will encounter during launch and ascent to orbit, as well as extreme hot and cold temperatures that will be experienced once MSL is in deep space. Click here for more details.
These photos show the various MSL components undergoing testing inside the thermal vacuum chamber in late February of 2009. Can’t wait to see the entire spacecraft eventually be mated to the Atlas V rocket that will launch Curiosity to Mars in late 2011. Stay tuned.
LINK: Photos I took of the Curiosity rover at the 2010 JPL Open House
NASA / JPL - Caltech
NASA / JPL - Caltech
NASA / JPL - Caltech
NASA / JPL - Caltech
No comments:
Post a Comment