New Mars Rover Pics.

[Tandum]

Found some pics of the new mars rover (http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/06/nasa-mars-science-la.html), due to launch late 2011.

[SkyViking]

Such a great collection of photos. It's nice to see this rover finally coming together. It's just massive in size. And what a complicated piece of machinery it is!
I sure hope the descent module performs as expected when the time comes...
I can't wait to see this rover on Mars!

[erick]

Assemble in an ultraclean room, then dump it in the dust of Mars - go figure :D

Wiring all colour-coded - orange! :D:D

Lovely piece of kit! :thumbsup:

[acropolite]

I wonder if it comes with 12 months roadside assist, a fantastic piece of engineering, I can't begin to imagine how they'd decontaminate it before sending launch.

[renormalised]

Somehow, I don't think the automobile clubs are going to send repair teams quite that far if the tyres blow out!!!:):P

[GrahamL]

I dont see a winch on front ??

[mr bruess]

I hope its as reliable as spirit and opportunity

[Ric]

What a fantastic piece of equipment.

I can't wait to see the images that it sends back.

[TrevorW]

I could never understand the clean room thing myself you'd think they'd not bother considering the enviroment it's designed to operate in, look at all the other devices designed to operate in our enviroment that don't go through this process, are they worried about contaminating Mars. Also look at all that gold leaf.

Check out the video of the deployment, I'd question why they didn't go with a tried and successful method.

But you don't really believe a toilet seat costs $10000 do you.

[Ric]

Hi Trevor, I think the reason for decontamination is so they don't upset any pristine environment or invalidate their tests with corrupted data.

It would be a bit embarrasing to discover life on Mars only to find out it's ours.

[Tandum]

Ric is right Trevor, they don't want to infect Mars with earth bacteria which would invalidate lots of experiments. They have even taken earth bacteria to the ISS and hung them out the window (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-08/bacteria-survive-553-day-exposure-exterior-iss) to see if they can survive in space. Others have been lab testing bacterial survival following an atmosphere entry (http://journalofcosmology.com/Panspermia9.html). They even found bacteria alive (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WGF-4J440B5-4&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1728787435&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0bd8cc422b589e0647fb77840d7f5d9 2&searchtype=a) on pieces of the collumbia shuttle.