NASA begins assembly, test, and launch operations for Mars 2020 rover

Laurel Kornfeld

NASA has started the assembly, test, and launch operations (ATLO) for its Mars 2020 rover, a key milestone that involves bringing together parts from all over the world.

Scheduled for launch atop an Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in July of 2020, this latest rover is being sent to the Red Planet to conduct geological studies of its landing site, explore the potential habitability of the environment, look for signs of ancient microbial life, and to scout for potential future landing sites for crewed missions.

The latter task involves evaluating both the resources and dangers of landing in specific areas of this flash-frozen world, the fourth planet from our Sun.

Mars 2020 rover and its science instruments, which are being developed and fielded utilize new technologies developed by NASA’s Space Technology Program, its Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, and various international partners. It is also planned to collect samples of rock and soil from the Martian surface, which would be placed in sealed tubes in anticipation of a future mission that may recover them and return them to Earth for analysis.

Propulsion systems for the rover’s cruise and descent stage main structures were installed over the course of the past few months. Between now and the planned launch date, a host of rover subsystems are slated to be added, including navigation, thermal, power, avionics, and telecommunications systems.

Much as the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity did on August 6, 2012, a rocket-powered sky crane is being prepared to carry the rover to the Martian surface once it arrives at the Red Planet. The crane’s parts, including the cruise stage, aeroshell, and descent stage, along with the rover itself, are scheduled for assembly at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory‘s (JPL) Spacecraft Assembly Facility High Bay 1, where historic probes such as the Mars rovers, Mariner mission to Venus, and Ranger missions to the Moon were constructed.

“No better place in the world to assemble NASA’s next Mars rover than JPL’s High Bay 1,” said John McNamee of JPL, who is the Mars 2020 project manager via a release issued by the space agency. “On the floor, you’ll see the components of our spacecraft taking shape–put together by people who are the best in the world at what they do. And on the wall behind them, you will see all the logos of the historic missions of exploration that have also been assembled in High Bay 1 in the past.”

David Gruel, ATLO Manager for Mars 2020, pointed out that some parts of the spacecraft are coming from the other side of the world while others are coming from buildings on the same street as High Bay 1.

“Right now, we are working the descent stage, and by fall, we expect to be working on the rover itself,” Gruel said.