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A full size
model of NASA's new Mars Rover, the Curiosity,
at the JPL Open House in May 2011. The Curiosity,
which will be the size of a small SUV, will be launched in
the Fall of 2011. |
Larger than the Spirit and
Opportunity rovers, the Curiosity's aluminum wheels can climb up
and over rougher terrain. The woman in the blue T-shirt on
the right controlled this model from her cell phone!
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Once a year,
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena
opens its doors to the public for one weekend.
Thousands of people show up to see what JPL and NASA are
currently doing.
This year the central focus was two model Mars Rovers in
the Mall area. There were also presentations about
earth exploration as well as NASA missions to discover
distant galaxies. And more!
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The two Mars
rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, already on the red
planet, look just like this operational model on display at
JPL. Powered by the solar panels on top, both rovers
lasted much longer than the original 3 months scheduled in
2004. The Opportunity still crawls across the Mars
surface and send reports back. Spirit has gone
silent. |
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A first this
year: the doors to the Deep Space Network at JPL
were opened to the public for a hurried tour. The
Deep Space Network monitors all signals coming from the
scientific spacecraft NASA has sent flying across the
solar system and the universe. All telemetry shown
to visitors was fictitious. |
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JPL and NASA
stationed scientists willing and able to answer questions
all over the place! At this location on the JPL
campus visitors could ask questions of astronauts and
engineers. |
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The JPL
campus is in a beautiful location in the foothills of the
San Gabriel Mountains in Pasadena, California.
Resting on top of the
entry to one building is a large model of Earth.. |
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's
official website is here.
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