JPL is best known for the robotic missions it sends to explore other planets. The Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have been in the news many times since they landed in 2004, belong to them. The first thing I noticed when we got to the center was how different it is from ours. Kennedy is flat and very spread out across a swamp. JPL is packed together on the side of a mountain and you can walk everywhere.
I think that's why they have nicer animals running around than we do. I'll take deer over alligators any day.
I was sent to JPL to meet people I am working with on some projects for Constellation. I mentioned one of them in my first post. The other project is a computer program that will let us test our missions to the moon before we actually go there. It's very cool stuff, but I was happy we didn't spend our whole visit in a computer room. The JPL guys were nice enough to walk us around so we could see some of the other neat things there.So what's cool to see at JPL? Well, this guy here is an exact copy of the Mars Rovers. Before they send any new code to Spirit and Opportunity they test it out on him. I forgot to ask if he has a name.
They also took us to their Spacecraft Assembly Facililty (SAF). This is where they build the robots they're going to send into space. There wasn't much inside when we walked through because they're just starting a new spacecraft. We were told the pieces there now are for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).
There are a few labs we visited that had robots in them as well. I got to drive one, and to see some of the early versions of the Mars rovers. Too bad we stopped there when I didn't have my camera with me.Last stop was the Mars Yard. This is an area covered in red dirt and rocks of all sizes to simulate Mars. They drive rovers around in here to test how they will work after they land.
It's also the one place I went back to for that special picture when I had some free time. Myca has now been on Mars. :)
The trip to JPL went very quickly. The shuttle was supposed to come back from California the same day we did, but we got here first. I wasn't at work early enough to see it land, but I did drive past the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) on my way home. It was a last minute thing and I don't usually bring Myca home with me, so she was back in the office when I snapped this picture of Atlantis and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) in the Mate/Demate Device (MDD). It was pretty impressive to see like that.
Thanks this week go to Mike for sending me to a very cool new place, and to Hari and Steve for showing me around when I got there. Unfortunately there may not be an update next week because I'm being sent to Houston for a big meeting. It's going to be a busy month...
