[Whirring, people talking,
metal clinking]
"Engineering for Mars
Behind the Scenes 360"
"2020 Rover Descent
Stage Assembly"
"Use headphones
and look around
for the most immersive
experience."
Hi, my name is Emily Howard and
I'm a mechanical engineer for
the Mars 2020 rover...
which is the next rover
we're sending to Mars
in the year 2020.
Once on Mars, this
rover will
seek out signs of
ancient life,
and capture samples for
possible return
by future missions.
It will also help us prepare
for human missions to Mars.
Right now we're working
on the Descent Stage
of the Mars 2020 rover.
We're in High Bay One in the
Spacecraft Assembly Facility at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California.
All of the emblems you see
on the wall represent
missions that were
assembled here.
Missions to
Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn and beyond.
I'm right here!
Just kidding. That's
"High Bay Bob."
"High Bay Bob" is there to show
off the current gowning state
in the High Bay, based on the
project that's in there.
Sometimes it's just smocks
but right now we're
in the full "bunny suit."
"High Bay Bob" does not
celebrate "Casual Fridays."
We're wearing "bunny suits,"
protective clothing to minimize
particles and bacteria from
getting on sensitive equipment
and optics also we don't want
microbes jumping off of us onto
the spacecraft, hitching a ride
to Mars, then us thinking
we discovered life there.
I'm right here.
On the table here we're
measuring the different parts,
weighing them and
then putting them back in
Amerstat bags in preparation
for the installation.
The Descent Stage AKA the "Sky
Crane" is a really cool part of
how the rover actually
lands on Mars.
It's part of the complex Entry,
Descent and Landing system in
which the rover enters the
Martian atmosphere guided
towards a specific landing point
on the surface of Mars.
When it reaches a certain height
above the landing site, it will
stop, hover, and lower the rover
suspended on cables
to the surface.
Once the rover is safely on
the surface of Mars,
the cables are detached and the
Descent Stage will fly off,
crash landing thousands of feet
away from the rover.
The Descent Stage weighs
about 1500 pounds.
That's about the same
weight as a dairy cow.
When it's built, the
rover will be mated
underneath the Descent
Stage for its trip to Mars.
It's vital to the success
of the mission.
So, once our work
here is done,
we'll be testing
it for the next
three years before launch.
Hope you enjoyed
your tour of
the Spacecraft
Assembly Facility.
Thanks for stopping by!
[Whoosh]
[NASA LOGO / Jet
Propulsion Laboratory /
California Institute
of Technology]
