Engineers stand next to the robotic arm that will be used on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Mars rover's arm under test
27 Jun 2009
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, due for launch in 2011, will sport the biggest, toughest robotic arm the red planet has ever seen. This super-limb must lift 34 kilograms of instruments to reach out and test martian rocks and soil, which may hold clues about whether Mars could have supported life.
Longer than most people are tall, the arm also provides heavy-duty support for the sampling drill. The drill requires a lot of "muscle" to hold it still on the rock. But, the arm isn't all brawn—it must delicately deposit the precious drill samples inside the rover for further testing.
So, how does the rover train to do all this heavy-lifting? Team members are building two identical arms. They've just completed the one that will stay here on Earth. They will use it for practice, in preparation for the one that will go to Mars on the rover.
< An artist's impression of the Mars Science Laboratory rover.
In the photo at the top of the page, two engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Alliance Spacesystems are standing in a white room on either side of the arm. They are dressed in white 'bunny suits,' and are covered from head to toe wearing white facemasks to protect the equipment. The arm is bent at the 'elbow' and raised high in the air about 60cm higher than the engineer on the left. The engineer on the right holds a control box that manoeuvres the arm for testing.
The engineers are testing the range of motion of the arm joints. The final instruments are not mounted on the arm's turret yet, but special weights have been placed on it for testing.
More information: Mars Science Laboratory mission
Adapted from information issued by NASA / JPL-Caltech.
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