[meteorite-list] NASA's Next Mars Rover Rolls Over Ramps (Curiosity)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:04:49 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201009141504.o8EF4nwh026021_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-297

NASA's Next Mars Rover Rolls Over Ramps
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
September 13, 2010

PASADENA, Calif. -- The rover Curiosity, which NASA's Mars Science
Laboratory mission will place on Mars in August 2012, has been rolling
over ramps in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to test
its mobility system.

Curiosity uses the same type of six-wheel, rocker-bogie suspension
system as previous Mars rovers, for handling uneven terrain during
drives. Its wheels are half a meter (20 inches) in diameter, twice the
height of the wheels on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers currently on Mars.

Launch of the Mars Science Laboratory is scheduled for 2011 during the
period from Nov. 25 to Dec. 18. The mission is designed to operate
Curiosity on Mars for a full Martian year, which equals about two Earth
years.

A public lecture by Mars Science Laboratory Chief Scientist John
Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, will
take place at JPL on Thursday, Sept. 16, beginning at 7 p.m. PDT Time
(10 p.m. EDT). Live video streaming, supplemented by a real-time web
chat to take public questions, will air on Ustream at
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasajpl .

JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project
for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. More information
about the mission is online at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2010-297
Received on Tue 14 Sep 2010 11:04:49 AM PDT