JPL’s version of a classic car show: Mars rovers go for a spin
Flight System Manager Matt Wallace, left, and System Integration and Test Lead for Mars rover Sojourner Eric Aguilar position the test double of Sojourner before a photo shoot at NASA JPL in La Canada Flintridge on Thursday, December 15, 2011. (Cheryl A. Guerrero/Staff Photographer, Pasadena Sun)
By Tiffany Kelly
Pasadena Sun
Jet Propulsion Laboratory officials hauled out models of all their Mars rovers for a rare gathering Thursday, with an Earth-bound version of Curiosity and a model of the twins Spirit and Opportunity occupying the so-called Mars Yard. But all the attention was on an ancient relic that had just emerged from a storage box inside a nearby shack.
About a dozen former and current JPL engineers gathered around a 25-pound model of Sojourner, the rover from the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission, still adorned with shiny black solar panels.
Brian Muirhead, the project manager responsible for the design and launch of Pathfinder, has seen pictures of the rover and even has a model in his office.
“But it’s not like this,” he said. “You remember how hard it was and all the things you had to do to make it work.”
JPL’s version of a classic car show: Mars rovers go for a spin
Flight System Manager Matt Wallace, left, and System Integration and Test Lead for Mars rover Sojourner Eric Aguilar position the test double of Sojourner before a photo shoot at NASA JPL in La Canada Flintridge on Thursday, December 15, 2011. (Cheryl A. Guerrero/Staff Photographer, Pasadena Sun)
By Tiffany Kelly
Pasadena Sun
Jet Propulsion Laboratory officials hauled out models of all their Mars rovers for a rare gathering Thursday, with an Earth-bound version of Curiosity and a model of the twins Spirit and Opportunity occupying the so-called Mars Yard. But all the attention was on an ancient relic that had just emerged from a storage box inside a nearby shack.
About a dozen former and current JPL engineers gathered around a 25-pound model of Sojourner, the rover from the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission, still adorned with shiny black solar panels.
Brian Muirhead, the project manager responsible for the design and launch of Pathfinder, has seen pictures of the rover and even has a model in his office.
“But it’s not like this,” he said. “You remember how hard it was and all the things you had to do to make it work.”
Flight System Manager Matt Wallace, left, and System Integration and Test Lead for Mars rover Sojourner Eric Aguilar position the test double of Sojourner before a photo shoot at NASA JPL in La Canada Flintridge on Thursday, December 15, 2011. (Cheryl A. Guerrero/Staff Photographer, Pasadena Sun)