Cruise Stage Testing for Mars Science Laboratory

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.
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) cruise stage in Bld 150 ETL 25 foot space simulator. Requester: Tony Ganino. Photographer: T. Wynne Date 24 August/2010 Photolab order: 070914-110603
September 1, 2010
CreditNASA/JPL-Caltech
Language
  • english

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.

Spacecraft technicians at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., prepare a space-simulation test of the cruise stage in this Aug. 24, 2010, photograph. 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.