Mars Science Laboratory's Cruise Stage in Test Chamber
Testing of the cruise stage for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory in August 2010 included a session in a facility that simulates the environment found in interplanetary space.
In this Aug. 24, 2010, photograph, a spacecraft technician at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., prepares for a test in the space simulation chamber. Solar panels are visible on the upper surface of the cruise stage. The testing chamber, 25 feet in diameter and 76 feet high, can simulate the cold, vacuum environment of space. Its 37 xenon lamps, each with about 25,000 watts, mimic the spacecraft's exposure to intense light from the sun.
During the Mars Science Laboratory's trip between launch from Earth in late 2011 and final approach to Mars in August 2012, the cruise stage will perform necessary functions for the spacecraft, such as generating electricity from sunshine, firing thrusters for trajectory adjustments, regulating the temperature of the rover inside its aeroshell and communicating with Earth.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
Original (1092x900)
Scientist Jennifer Eigenbrode used a soil simulant — material that closely resembles material found on the martian surface — to test the effectiveness of a sample-preparation method that was added ...
Scientist Jennifer Eigenbrode using a soil simulant for testing
In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians process the heat shield for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).
Processing the Heat Shield
Access Mars allows any member of the public to explore the discoveries of NASA's Curiosity rover.
Access Mars
In an activity called the "mini drill test," NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its drill to generate this ring of powdered rock for inspection in advance of the rover's first full drilling.
Preparatory Test of Drilling on Mars Generates Rock Powder
Curiosity remains busy on Mars by checking out her instruments and getting ready for her first test drive.
Instrument Check-Out
The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles coming from the sun, distant supernovae and other sources.
Sources of Ionizing Radiation in Interplanetary Space
As of June 2012, the target landing area for Curiosity, the rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is the ellipse marked on this image, about 12 miles long and 4 miles wide (20 kilometers...
Landing Target for Mars Rover Curiosity, in Stereo
This image shows two engineers aiming the cannon that will fire the tightly packed parachute into the wind tunnel.
No Speed Limit on Mars
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity extended its robotic arm on Aug. 20, 2012, for the first time on Mars and used its Navigation Camera (Navcam) to capture this view of the extended arm.
Curiosity Extends Arm for First Time on Mars
Landing a spacecraft on Mars is one of the trickiest things we do. This 60-second video explains how it's done, and the three landing systems we use at the Red Planet.
Mars in a Minute: How Do You Land on Mars?
This wide-angle view shows the High Bay 1 cleanroom inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Specialists are working on components of the Mars S...
Working on Curiosity in JPL Spacecraft Assembly Facility
This illustration shows the locations and interactions of volatiles on Mars. Volatiles are molecules that readily evaporate, converting to their gaseous form, such as water and carbon dioxide.
Volatiles on Mars
The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired close-up views of sands in the "Rocknest" wind drift to document the nature of the material that the rover scooped, sieved ...
Windblown Sand from the 'Rocknest' Drift
This animation of NASA's Curiosity rover shows the complicated suite of operations involved in conducting the rover's first rock sample drilling on Mars and transferring the sample to the rover's s...
Drilling into Mars
By monitoring weather through two Martian years since landing in Gale Crater, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has documented seasonal patterns in variables such as temperature, water-vapor content and ...
Seasonal Cycles in Curiosity's First Two Martian Years
Download a zip file of Curiosity's Landing Site: Topographic Model of Gale Crater.
Curiosity's Landing Site: Topographic Model of Gale Crater
This panorama of the landscape surrounding NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on July 31, 2014, offers a view into sandy lower terrain called "Hidden Valley," which is on the planned route ahead.
Curiosity's 360-Degree View Before Entering 'Hidden Valley'
The heritage for investigations with the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover comes from NASA's Odyssey orbiter.
Laying the Groundwork for Curiosity's DAN
In this image, the scoop on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the larger soil particles that were too big to filter through a sample-processing sieve that is porous only to particles less than 0.006 inc...
Too Big for the Sieve
This May 22, 2015, view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) in NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the "Marias Pass" area where a lower and older geological unit of mudstone -- the pale zone in the center...
'Marias Pass,' Contact Zone of Two Martian Rock Units
The dark band in the lower portion of this Martian scene is part of the "Bagnold Dunes" dune field lining the northwestern edge of Mount Sharp. The scene combines multiple images taken with the Mas...
Glimpse of 'Bagnold Dunes' Edging Mount Sharp
Half of the Atlas V payload fairing for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, encased in plastic, is lifted from its transportation pallet in the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing ...
Getting Payload Fairing Ready
This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a site with a network of prominent mineral veins below a cap rock ridge on lower Mount Sharp.
Veiny 'Garden City' Site and Surroundings on Mount Sharp, Mars
At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the "back shell powered descent vehicle" configuration of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory is being rotated for ...
Rotating Curiosity's Back Shell Powered Descent Vehicle
This view of the lower front and underbelly areas of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 34th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on M...
Belly Check for Curiosity