Building the Mars Science Laboratory at KSC NASA

The cleanroom where the components of the Mars Science Lab are being built and assembled into the MSL spacecraft. In the centre you can see the Curiosity Rover, whilst in the next room is the cruise stage.

Back in August 2011 whilst the MSL Spacecraft was being assembled at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center we were invited to visit the cleanroom to see the Curiosity Rover.

Unusually the MSL payload was being assembled inside the perimeter of the KSC property.  This was because the Curiosity Rover has an atomic power supply, requiring security over and above the norm for a spacecraft.

The MSL spacecraft consists of a number of functional modules: The Cruise Stage, The Aeroshell (or Back Shell), The Heat Shield, The descent stage (known as the Sky Crane) and finally the Curiosity Rover.

We were able to see most of these modules as they were being prepared to be integrated into the spacecraft prior to being encased in the payload fairing for mating with the Atlas V booster.

Pictures from our cleanroom visit follow:

The MSL spacecraft was being assembled in what is called a cleanroom.  In this case it is a rather large hanger.  To gain access to the cleanroom everyone must don disposable protective clothing and ingress via an environmental control portal to prevent any contamination of the vehicle or its components.

As you can see from the pictures the Curiosity Rover was just about complete, but there was a lot of work left to do on the Sky Crane before final integration and transportation to the launch pad.