In April, 2011, the engineers at JPL gave Boing Boing permission to visit the clean room where the next Mars rover, Curiosity, had just been completed, for an exclusive first look.
Photographer Joseph Linaschke made the trek (and donned the bunny suit) on our behalf, and brought back breathtaking photos of the magnificent martian machine.
The full Boing Boing photo gallery is here, with caption assist from JPL.
Above, the Mars Science Laboratory’s descent stage, which files the rover down to Mars’ surface using eight rockets, and lowers it on a tether for landing. The orange spheres are propellant tanks.
Here’s a roundup of ways to watch, as Curiosity attempts landing the night of Aug 5 (that’s tomorrow).
* There are even more images on Joseph’s site (pssst: news orgs, they’re available for licensing, ask him.)
- Mission to Mars: Anticipating NASA rover 'Curiosity' touchdown …
- Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity headed for Mars landing …
- Are we all Martians? The curious hunt for life on Mars
- NASA's Ashwin Vasavada talks Mars Science Laboratory and …
- William Shatner and Wil Wheaton welcome NASA's Curiosity rover …
- NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover as Art
- 1909 Lincoln Penny goes to Mars on Curiosity
- Curiosity rover on its way to Mars –