Wheel Installation

In this picture, the Curiosity rover is sitting on top of six shiny wheels. The picture was taken from the side of the rover and only four wheels are visible. The wheels have a black coating which makes them slip resistant. On the right of the rover is an engineer who is wearing a white 'bunny suit' to prevent him from getting any unwanted Earth microbes onto the rover. The engineer is holding one of the lift cables used to put the rover onto the wheels. A pink heavy-lift crane is visible over the rover. The crane is used to lift the rover body within the room. Behind the rover, lots of lab equipment and other parts are scattered around the cleanroom.
July 7, 2010
CreditNASA/JPL-Caltech
Language
  • english

In this picture, the Curiosity rover sports a set of six new wheels. The wheels were just installed on June 28 and 29 in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. For another view of the wheels see PIA13236. This set of wheels will set"foot" on Mars in the summer of 2012. The rovers' launch is scheduled for late 2011.

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