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WHAT'S NEW What's New | Newsroom View By Year:    2007    2008    2009 View By News Type:    Press Releases    Spotlights    All 05.07.09 NASA Releases Interactive 3-D Views of Space Station, New Mars Rover Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA released an interactive, 3-D photographic collection of internal and external views of the International Space Station and a model of the next Mars rover on Thursday, May 7. View the Photosynth Panorama Rovers in the JPL Mars Yard Spotlight 04.22.2009 Parachute During Tests for Mars Science Laboratory Testing during March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., qualified the parachute for NASA's next Mars rover. Spotlight 04.22.2009 Large Parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission opens to a diameter of nearly 16 meters (51 feet). This image shows a duplicate qualification-test parachute inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Spotlight 04.22.2009 Mars Parachute Testing in World's Largest Wind Tunnel The parachute for NASA's next mission to Mars passed flight-qualification testing in March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, to be launched in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012, will use the largest parachute ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial mission. This image shows a duplicate qualification-test parachute inflated in an 80-mile-per-hour (36-meter-per-second) wind inside the test facility. The parachute uses a configuration called disk-gap-band. It has 80 suspension lines, measures more than 50 meters (165 feet) in length, and opens to a diameter of nearly 16 meters (51 feet). Most of the orange and white fabric is nylon, though a small disk of heavier polyester is used near the vent in the apex of the canopy due to higher stresses there. It is designed to survive deployment at Mach 2.2 in the Martian atmosphere, where it will generate up to 65,000 pounds of drag force. Spotlight 04.22.2009 Open Parachute During Tests for Mars Science Laboratory Testing during March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., qualified the parachute for NASA's next Mars rover. The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, to be launched in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012, is the largest ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial mission. Spotlight 04.22.2009 Parachute Opening During Tests for Mars Science Laboratory Testing during March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., qualified the parachute for NASA's next Mars rover. The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, to be launched in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012, is the largest ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial mission. Spotlight 04.14.2009 Mars Science Laboratory Parachute Qualification Testing The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory passed flight-qualification testing in March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Spotlight 03.28.2009 Heavy Duty Trust Building Trust--it's vital for each step of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. Engineers must trust each other and all the tests they've done while building the rover. Press Release 03.19.2009 Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Online Poll For NASA's Mars Rover Naming Contest Opens March 23 NASA will post online nine names that are finalists for the agency's Mars Science Laboratory mission and invite the public to vote for its favorite. Spotlight 02.24.2009 Mars Science Laboratory Talks, Rocks, Bakes and Chills Before leaving Earth, Mars Science Laboratory is really put to the test to make sure it can survive the trip to the red planet. Press Release 01.16.2009 Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Deadline Nears For Student Contest to Name NASA's Next Mars Rover NASA is issuing a last call to the nation's youth for entries in a contest to name the agency's next Mars rover.