Mini Cooper/Curiosity Mars Rover
Posted on 08/15/2011 12:52:42 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's next Mars rover, the car-size Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is almost ready to fly to the Red Planet.
Beginning tomorrow (Aug. 13), technicians at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida will begin folding up the six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover to pack it inside its heat shield.
Targeted to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral on the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 25), Curiosity was shown off to the media on Friday inside the clean room where it has been undergoing final tests and preparations for its journey to Mars.
The rover, which at 10 feet (3 meters) long has been likened to the size of a Mini Cooper, was in its fully-deployed posture. The next time it will be in the same configuration will be after it is deposited on the surface of Mars in August 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Cool!
Thank you for your participation.
bflr
Wow! I guess that NASA muslim outreach program is really working. Derp derp.
Don’t mention it...
Just my little way of supporting the president’s NASA Muslim outreach efforts.
Not
About
Space
Anymore
Climate change and other propaganda...
I’m glad they found some money for actually exploring space. This will be a cool mission!
jokes aside, the last pictureof the rover being lowered to the surface really sparks my imagination. Cool indeed.
On a visit to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2005, Jackson Lee made embarrassing news by asking if the Mars Pathfinder had taken an image of the flag planted there in 1969 by Neil Armstrong.[2]
Prior to the 110th Congress, Jackson Lee served on the House Science Committee and on the Subcommittee that oversees space policy and NASA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Jackson_Lee#Political_career
"Stupid is as stupid does." - Forest Gump.
That second video is awesome!
The two earlier Rovers lasted for YEARS..well beyond expectations. The gods of science are sometimes fickle....this one could land, go 6 feet, and quit...
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