NASA’s next robot to explore the Red Planet is undergoing extensive checkout.
The Mars Science Laboratory, named Curiosity, can now be viewed on a webcam as engineers and technicians work on the huge rover.
The “Curiosity Cam” is mounted in the viewing gallery of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. While the gallery is a regular stop on JPL’s public tour, Curiosity Cam allows visitors from around the world to see NASA engineers at work without traveling to Pasadena.
Months of assembly and testing remain before the car-sized rover is ready for launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida next year – between November 25 and December 18.
Once on its way to Mars, Curiosity will land in August 2012.
Curiosity is big!
It will tote to Mars a science payload 10 times the mass of instruments on NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers already on the red planet. Also, Curiosity is nuclear-powered and engineered to drive longer distances over rougher terrain than previous Mars rovers.
So drop in and take a look at continuous live video of the rover being prepared for its future Mars exploration.
Go to:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasajpl
and/or
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/building_curiosity.html
and/or
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/whereistherovernow/
By LD/CSE