MSL development & assembly, Until it's shipped to the Cape |
MSL development & assembly, Until it's shipped to the Cape |
Mar 29 2010, 08:11 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2922 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
In case you missed it there's 9 minutes on MSL (actual hardware visible) + 5 minutes with Dr Elachi on "This week in Space" there: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/
14 minutes out of 23 regarding Unmanned, not bad. -------------------- |
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May 21 2010, 01:12 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
Looks like NASA is planning to launch MSL between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?rele...elease_2010-171 -------------------- 2011 JPL Tweetup photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_jpltweetup.html
http://human-spaceflight.blogspot.com |
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Jun 2 2010, 07:32 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
High Gain Antenna for the Curiosity rover is en route to JPL
http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=525858649 -------------------- 2011 JPL Tweetup photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_jpltweetup.html
http://human-spaceflight.blogspot.com |
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Jun 12 2010, 01:33 AM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
NASA Dryden Hosts Radar Tests for Next Mars Landing
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-197 Engineers with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are running diverse trials with a test version of the radar system that will enable NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission to put the Curiosity rover onto the Martian surface in August 2012. One set of tests conducted over a desert lakebed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., in May 2010 used flights with a helicopter simulating specific descent paths anticipated for Martian sites. -------------------- 2011 JPL Tweetup photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_jpltweetup.html
http://human-spaceflight.blogspot.com |
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Jun 12 2010, 07:44 AM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2922 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
Very nice topic actually. BTW, do we know the dead line to get MSL sent to the Cape?
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Jun 12 2010, 06:11 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 540 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
Spacecraft are usually sent to the Cape 3 months before launch...though in Spirit and Opportunity's case, they were delivered to Cape Canaveral 4-5 months before launch (January 2003, while Spirit launched in June and Opportunity launched in July of that year)
If MSL launches in November of 2011, then early summer going on the assumption above -------------------- 2011 JPL Tweetup photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_jpltweetup.html
http://human-spaceflight.blogspot.com |
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Jun 12 2010, 07:14 PM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
If they want a really robust test location to simulate unknown Martian landing conditions they should go to the desert areas in and around Joshua Tree National Park.
-------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Jun 12 2010, 11:51 PM
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#8
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8789 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Do we know the means by which MSL will be sent to the Cape yet (i.e., airlift or overland)?
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jun 13 2010, 12:05 AM
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#9
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14448 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Oh - I don't think they've overlanded a spacecraft in years have they? Bound to be an airlift.
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Jun 13 2010, 12:12 AM
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#10
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8789 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
For some reason, I thought that the MERs went overland. I know that JPL has (or had) a fairly robust overland transport infrastructure for moving spacecraft. (I think airlift's the way to go, though, definitely.)
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jun 13 2010, 01:35 AM
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#11
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1598 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
(I think airlift's the way to go, though, definitely.) http://www.afrc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123137819 Googled around assuming it would be placed on a C-17. Bingo. |
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Guest_Enceladus75_* |
Jun 13 2010, 01:52 AM
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#12
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Guests |
Wasn't Galileo transported back and forth from the Cape to California via road overland? And wasn't the overland mode blamed for the removal of lubricant from that high gain antenna which never was able to open fully?
I would hope ALL deep space unmanned craft were transported to the launch site via airlift. And if not, by sea. |
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Jun 13 2010, 02:39 AM
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#13
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8789 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
I think Galileo actually went back & forth between the Cape & JPL several times due to launch delays, and that eventually hosed the lubricant.
Very happy to hear that MSL's definitely flying; a C-17 is a nice, safe, smooth ride! -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jun 13 2010, 02:59 AM
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#14
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
For some reason, I thought that the MERs went overland.... Could be the first sentence from chapter 10 of Roving Mars."At 5 A.M. on February 22, 2003, a truck convoy left JPL, carrying the MER-2 rover to Florida. In a nice dramatic touch, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake hit southern California just forty minutes before the trucks rolled..." |
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Jun 13 2010, 04:26 AM
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#15
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8789 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Probably. Time to reread that anyhow; thanks for the reminder $0.02!
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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