MSL development & assembly, Until it's shipped to the Cape Options

[djellison]

That's quite a giggle for those that remember the wheels on the MSL Scarecrow mobility model - check the tread on that

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001010/

[sgendreau]

.---
.--.
.-..

That rocks.

(Oh, and it rolls.) [ducks]

[nprev]

LOVE it!!!

[punkboi]

MSL now has her Remote Sensing Mast

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[James Sorenson]

Can't wait till we get higher res pics of the New mast. Ohh and a clean room panorama of the rover taken by Mastcam's perspective .

[punkboi]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?rele...elease_2010-239

Video Camera Will Show Mars Rover's Touchdown

July 19, 2010

A downward-pointing camera on the front-left side of NASA's Curiosity rover will give adventure fans worldwide an unprecedented sense of riding a spacecraft to a landing on Mars.

The Mars Descent Imager, or MARDI, will start recording high-resolution video about two minutes before landing in August 2012. Initial frames will glimpse the heat shield falling away from beneath the rover, revealing a swath of Martian terrain below illuminated in afternoon sunlight. The first scenes will cover ground several kilometers (a few miles) across. Successive images will close in and cover a smaller area each second.

[climber]

Weeks or months to get the full resolution video.
I can't wait for Dan Maas animation.

[ustrax]

Initial frames will glimpse the heat shield falling away from beneath the rover, revealing a swath of Martian terrain below illuminated in afternoon sunlight.

Madrecita de Dios!
How many sols left for total aweness?

[djellison]

I can't wait for Dan Maas animation.

Dan's not doing this one - but an updated version of the MSL animation that already exists is in production.

[punkboi]

Looking forward to the new MSL video. Dan Maas' video for Phoenix was awesome

[djellison]

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Tune in tomorrow from 11 - 3 PST. Live from the clean room, should be worth watching!

[toddbronco2]

THe video streaming today is occurring because the plan is to drive the rover on the floor for the first time this afternoon.

[djellison]

Live a bit early - http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

First drive expected at about 2pm

[punkboi]

Another pic of MSL with its new "neck and head"

http://twitpic.com/27xag9

[punkboi]

Curiosity Rover Grows by Leaps and Bounds

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?rele...elease_2010-245

Talk about a growth-spurt. In one week, Curiosity grew by approximately 1 meter (3.5 feet) when spacecraft technicians and engineers attached the rover's neck and head (called the Remote Sensing Mast) to its body. At around 2 meters (about 7 feet) tall, the next rover to Mars now stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Mounted on Curiosity's mast are two navigation cameras (Navcams), two mast cameras (Mastcam), and the laser-carrying chemistry camera (ChemCam).

While it now has a good head on its shoulders, Curiosity's "eyes" (the Mastcam), have been blindfolded in a protective silvery material. The Mastcam, containing two digital cameras, will soon be unveiled, so engineers can test its picture-taking abilities.

Up next today (July 23), the towering rover will take its first baby steps: a slow roll on the floor of the clean room where it's being built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Watch Curiosity's progress live from the clean room on Ustream until 3:30 p.m. PDT today: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl .