Spacecraft Assembly Process

Images of technicians working on spacecraft at a space center, featuring clean, high-tech environments focused on Mars landers and rovers.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Workers in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility look over one of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Processing of the rovers, cruise stage, lander and heat shield elements is ongoing. Set to launch in 2003, the MER Mission will consist of two identical rovers designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. The rovers will be identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. The first rover has a launch window opening May 30, and the second rover a window opening June 25, 2003.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers guide the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft onto the upper stage booster. The spacecraft and booster will be mated for launch. Targeted for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Aug. 3, Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Technicians at Astrotech in Titusville, Fla., maneuver a solar panel into place for installation on NASAs MESSENGER spacecraft. It is one of two large solar panels, supplemented with a nickel-hydrogen battery, that will provide MESSENGERs power. MESSENGER is scheduled to launch Aug. 2 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. It will return to Earth for a gravity boost in July 2005, then fly past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. The spacecraft uses the tug of Venus gravity to resize and rotate its trajectory closer to Mercurys orbit. Three Mercury flybys, each followed about two months later by a course-correction maneuver, put MESSENGER in position to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. During the flybys, MESSENGER will map nearly the entire planet in color, image most of the areas unseen by Mariner 10, and measure the composition of the surface, atmosphere and magnetosphere. It will be the firs

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, a technician prepares to reopen the lander petals of the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) to allow access to one of the spacecraft's circuit boards. A concern arose during prelaunch testing regarding how the spacecraft interprets signals sent from its main computer to peripherals in the cruise stage, lander and small deep space transponder. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers set to launch in June 2003. The problem will be fixed on both rovers.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Workers in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility look over one of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Processing of the rovers, cruise stage, lander and heat shield elements is ongoing. Set to launch in 2003, the MER Mission will consist of two identical rovers designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. The rovers will be identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. The first rover has a launch window opening May 30, and the second rover a window opening June 25, 2003.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Astrotech facility in Titusville, Fla., technicians wait for the rotation of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, (center) on the Aronson stand. When vertical, a crane will be attached to move the LRO to another stand. The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with detailed maps of the lunar surface and enhance our understanding of the moon's topography, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition and natural resources. Information gleaned from LRO will be used to select safe landing sites, determine locations for future lunar outposts and help mitigate radiation dangers to astronauts. The polar regions of the moon are the main focus of the mission because continuous access to sunlight may be possible and water ice may exist in permanently shadowed areas of the poles. Accompanying LRO on its journey to the moon will be the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, a mission that will impact the lunar surfac

The 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter, suspended by an overhead crane in the Space Assembly and Encapsulation Building 2, moves toward the spin table at left where it will be tested. The orbiter is being transferred to a spin table for testing. The orbiter carries three science instruments THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) that will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface, the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface, and characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Workers in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility -2 prepare the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) for a media showing. The MAP is mated to the upper stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket. The rocket is scheduled to launch the MAP instrument June 30 into a lunar-assisted trajectory to the Sun-Earth for a 27-month mission. MAP will measure small fluctuations in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation to an accuracy of one millionth of a degree. These measurements should reveal the size, matter content, age, geometry and fate of the universe. They will also reveal the primordial structure that grew to form galaxies and will test ideas about the origins of these primordial structures. The MAP instrument will be continuously shaded from the Sun, Earth, and Moon by the spacecraft. It is a product of Goddard Space Flight Center in partnership with Princeton University

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, engineers move the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) away from NASAs New Horizons spacecraft. The RTG is being returned to the RTG facility after completing a fit check with the spacecraft. The RTG is the baseline power supply for the New Horizons, scheduled to launch in January 2006 on a journey to Pluto and its moon, Charon. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. It is expected to reach Pluto

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers in the Payload Handling Servicing Facility attach an overhead crane to the Phoenix spacecraft. The spacecraft will be lifted and moved to a rotation stand for an interim weight and center of gravity determination. The Phoenix mission is the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. It will serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds,

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers help guide the suspended Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft toward the upper stage booster in the center. The spacecraft and booster will be mated for launch. Targeted for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Aug. 3, Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians, using an overhead crane, lower NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission cruise stage onto a rotation stand. The cruise stage provides solar power, thrusters for navigation, and heat exchangers to the rover during its flight from Earth to Mars. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 25 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Foreign object debris shields are installed and a borescope inspection is conducted on the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. On the right is the Pegasus launch vehicle from which it was demated. Technicians are looking for a small fastener and associated clip missing from a demated connector identified during preflight testing. GALEX is an orbiting space telescope that will observe galaxies in ultraviolet light across 10 billion years of cosmic history. During its 29-month mission, GALEX will produce the first comprehensive map of a Universe of galaxies under construction, bringing more understanding to how galaxies like the Milky Way were formed. The GALEX launch date in late April is currently under review.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, integration between a rocket-powered descent stage and NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, known as Curiosity, is complete. The descent stage will lower Curiosity to the surface of Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At Astrotech Space Operation's payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., Lockheed Martin technicians adjust the position of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory-A (GRAIL-A) lunar probe on the spacecraft adapter ring. GRAIL-B is already secured to the ring, at left. After the twin GRAIL spacecraft are attached to the adapter ring in their side-by-side launch configuration, they will be transported to the launch pad.GRAIL will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field. GRAIL's primary science objectives are to determine the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core, and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon. Launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is scheduled for Sept. 8.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane lowers the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, toward the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier where it will be installed. The carrier will be placed in space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay for the Hubble servicing mission, STS-125, targeted to launch in mid-May. Installing the COS during the mission will effectively restore spectroscopy to Hubbles scientific arsenal, and at the same time provide the telescope with unique capabilities. COS is designed to study the large-scale structure of the universe and how galaxies, stars and planets formed and evolved. It will help determine how elements needed for life such as carbon and iron first formed and how their abundances have increased over the lifetime of the universe.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility examine the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) as it is lowered onto the base petal of the lander. Set to launch in Spring 2003, the MER Mission consists of two identical rovers. Landing at different regions of Mars, they are designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. The first rover has a launch window opening May 30, and the second rover a window opening June 25.

The 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter, suspended by an overhead crane in the Space Assembly and Encapsulation Building 2, moves toward the spin table at left where it will be tested. The orbiter is being transferred to a spin table for testing. The orbiter carries three science instruments THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) that will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface, the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface, and characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - With the solar arrays fully open on the Mars Exploration Rover-2 (MER-2), the low-gain and high-gain antennas can be seen. Set to launch in Spring 2003, the MER Mission will consist of two identical rovers designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. The rovers will be identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. The first rover has a launch window opening May 30, and the second rover a window opening June 25, 2003.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Wearing special protective suits, workers ready NASAs Deep Space 1 spacecraft for prelaunch processing in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at KSC. Targeted for launch on a Boeing Delta 7326 rocket on Oct. 15, 1998, the first flight in NASAs New Millennium Program is designed to validate 12 new technologies for scientific space missions of the next century. Onboard experiments include an ion propulsion engine and software that tracks celestial bodies so the spacecraft can make its own navigation decisions without the intervention of ground controllers. Deep Space 1 will complete most of its mission objectives within the first two months, but will also do a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid, 1992 KD, in July 1999

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, an overhead crane lifts the heat shield from the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft. The Phoenix mission is the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. It will serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds, last attempted with NASAs Viking missions in the 1970s. A stereo color camera and a weather station will study the surrounding environment while the other instruments check excavated soil samples for water, organic chemicals and conditions that could indicat

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers adjust the position of the Mars Exploration Rover-2 (MER-2) as it is lowered onto the base petal of its lander assembly. Set to launch in Spring 2003, the MER Mission will consist of two identical rovers designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. The rovers will be identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. The first rover has a launch window opening May 30, and the second rover, a window opening June 25.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the lander petals and attached airbags of the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) are closed around the spacecraft during testing prior to launch. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers set to launch in Spring 2003. Landing at different regions of Mars, they are designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers check the status of the cruise stage of Mars Exploration Rover 1 (MER-1) after being lowered onto blocks. The cruise stage will be integrated with the aeroshell, the entry vehicle. NASAs twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans cant yet go. The MER-1 is scheduled to launch June 25 from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a technician helps guide the placement of NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft onto a stand for spin balance testing. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is the first mission designed to detect the edge of the Solar System. As the solar wind from the sun flows out beyond Pluto, it collides with the material between the stars, forming a shock front. IBEX contains two neutral atom imagers designed to detect particles from the termination shock at the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX also will study galactic cosmic rays, energetic particles from beyond the Solar System that pose a health and safety hazard for humans exploring beyond Earth orbit. IBEX will make these observations from a highly elliptical orbit that takes it beyond the interference of the Earth's magnetosphere. IBEX

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the lander petals and attached airbags of the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) are closed around the spacecraft during testing prior to launch. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers set to launch in Spring 2003. Landing at different regions of Mars, they are designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer, or CHIPSat, undergoes final processing before launch. CHIPSat, a suitcase-size 131-pound satellite, will provide invaluable information into the origin, physical processes and properties of the hot gas contained in the interstellar medium. This can provide important clues about the formation and evolution of galaxies since the interstellar medium literally contains the seeds of future stars. CHIPSat is scheduled for launch, with the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), on a Delta II expendable launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Jan. 11, 2003, between 4:45 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. PST.

Detail of the New Horizons Spacecraft's Nuclear Power Source

JPSS-2 Mate SC to LOFTID Stack. Technicians lower the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) onto a payload adapter ring inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Oct. 5, 2022. The team stacked JPSS-2 atop the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) payload. JPSS-2 is the third satellite in the Joint Polar Satellite System series. It is scheduled to lift off from VSFB on Nov. 1 from Space Launch Complex-3. JPSS-2, which will be renamed NOAA-21 after reaching orbit, will join a constellation of JPSS satellites that orbit from the North to the South pole, circling Earth 14 times a day and providing a full view of the entire globe twice daily. The NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite, and NOAA-20, previously known as JPSS-1, are both already in orbit. Each satellite carries at least four advanced instruments to

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians help with the lifting of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, from a stand. The COS will be moved to and placed on the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier that will be installed in space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay. The COS is part of the payload for the Hubble servicing mission, STS-125, targeted to launch in mid-May. Installing the COS during the mission will effectively restore spectroscopy to Hubbles scientific arsenal, and at the same time provide the telescope with unique capabilities. COS is designed to study the large-scale structure of the universe and how galaxies, stars and planets formed and evolved. It will help determine how elements needed for life such as carbon and iron first formed and how their abundances have increased over the lifetime of the universe.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., final processing is underway on the STEREO spacecraft. Here, technicians close the door on the Heliospheric Imager (HI) assembly for flight. The top cover hinges open on-orbit. The HI is part of the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) package of four instruments that will study the 3-D evolution of coronal mass ejections, from birth at the Sun's surface through the corona and interplanetary medium to its eventual impact at Earth. STEREO consists of two spacecraft whose mission is the first to take measurements of the sun and solar wind in 3-D. This new view will improve our understanding of space weather and its impact on the Earth. Preparations are under way for a liftoff aboard a Delta rocket no earlier than July 22.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians help guide the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, as it is lifted from a stand. The COS will be moved to and placed on the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier that will be installed in space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay. The COS is part of the payload for the Hubble servicing mission, STS-125, targeted to launch in mid-May. Installing the COS during the mission will effectively restore spectroscopy to Hubbles scientific arsenal, and at the same time provide the telescope with unique capabilities. COS is designed to study the large-scale structure of the universe and how galaxies, stars and planets formed and evolved. It will help determine how elements needed for life such as carbon and iron first formed and how their abundances have increased over the lifetime of the universe.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is lowered onto a support base with the aid of a turning fixture following the MMRTG fit check on the Curiosity rover.The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. Waste heat from the MMRTG will be circulated throughout the rover system to keep instruments, computers, mechanical devices and communications systems within their ope

NASA's Mars 2020 spacecraft undergoes examination prior to an acoustic test in the Environmental Test Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The image was taken on April 11, 2019, at JPL.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, workers prepare the Human Research Facility-2 (HRF-2) science rack for installation into the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello for flight on Space Shuttle Discoverys Return to Flight mission, STS-114. The HRF-2 will deliver additional biomedical instrumentation and research capability to the International Space Station. HRF-1, installed on the U.S. Lab since May 2001, contains an ultrasound unit and gas analyzer. Both racks provide structural, power, thermal, command and data handling, and communication and tracking interfaces between the HRF biomedical instrumentation and the U.S. Laboratory, Destiny. NASA Kennedy Space Center and their prime contractor responsible for ISS element processing, The Boeing Company, prepared the rack for installation. The HRF Project is managed by NASA Johnson Space Center and implemented through contract with Lockheed Martin, Houston, Texas.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - Engineers prepare to connect NASA's IRIS spacecraft to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg no earlier than June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

In the Hazardous Processing Facility at Astrotech Space Operations, workers get ready to move the integrated THEMIS spacecraft to the spin table in the foreground. There it will undergo spin-balance testing. THEMIS consists of five identical probes, the largest number of scientific satellites ever launched into orbit aboard a single rocket. This unique constellation of satellites will resolve the tantalizing mystery of what causes the spectacular sudden brightening of the aurora borealis and aurora australis - the fiery skies over the Earth's northern and southern polar regions. THEMIS is scheduled to launch Feb. 15 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The unwrapped Phoenix spacecraft is on display in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The Phoenix mission is the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. It will serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds, last attempted with NASAs Viking missions in the 1970s. A stereo color camera and a weather station will study the surrounding environment while the other instruments check excavated soil samples for water, organic chemicals and conditions that could indicate

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers begin unfolding the solar array panels on the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft. The deployment of the panels is part of the pre-launch testing under way. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. Phoenix is scheduled to launch Aug. 3.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - A worker in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility checks wiring on the Mars Exploration Rover-1. While at KSC, each of the two rovers, their aeroshells and landers will undergo a full mission simulation. After spin balance testing, each spacecraft will be mated to a solid propellant upper stage booster that will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Approximately 10 days before launch they will be transported to the launch pad for mating with their respective Boeing Delta II rockets. The rovers will serve as robotic geologists to seek answers about the evolution of Mars, particularly for a history of water. The rovers are identical to each other, and will land at different regions of Mars. Launch of the MER-1 is scheduled for May 30. MER-2 will follow June 25.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, technicians prepare to close the lander petals and attached airbags of the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) around the spacecraft prior to launch. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers set to launch in Spring 2003. Landing at different regions of Mars, they are designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past.

A worker in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility (SAEF 2) checks the underside of the extended solar array panels on the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter. The array will undergo illumination testing. Scheduled for launch April 7, 2001, the orbiter contains three science instruments: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the lander petals of the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) have been reopened to allow technicians access to one of the spacecraft's circuit boards. A concern arose during prelaunch testing regarding how the spacecraft interprets signals sent from its main computer to peripherals in the cruise stage, lander and small deep space transponder. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers set to launch in June 2003. The problem will be fixed on both rovers.

Dan Andrews, Project Manager LCROSS and Craig Tooley, Project Manager LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) in front of Spacecraft at the Astrotech facility titusville, FL during LRO/LCROSS media photo op event. The LCROSS mission's objective is to confirm the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the moon's South Pole. (Photo by Jonis Dino AMES PAO, premission for use granted by Dan Andrews, image owner)

An overhead crane moves The Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) into place to be installed on the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF 2).; The orbiter will carry three science instruments the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The GRS is a rebuild of the instrument lost with the Mars Observer mission. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral

Test operators monitor how NASA's Mars rover Curiosity handles driving over a ramp during a test on Sept. 10, 2010, inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Construction of the New Horizons Spacecraft

DEEP SPACE 1 SPACECRAFT

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - With cables released, this Mars Exploration Rover (MER) sits on the floor of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. Processing of the rovers, cruise stage, lander and heat shield elements is ongoing. Set to launch in 2003, the MER Mission will consist of two identical rovers designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. The rovers will be identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. The first rover has a launch window opening May 30, and the second rover a window opening June 25, 2003.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Multi-Payload Processing Facility, members of the STS-107 crew run tests on the Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science, Technology, Applications and Research (FREESTAR) experiments, part of the payload on their mission. A research mission, the primary payload is the first flight of the SHI Research Double Module (SHI/RDM), also known as SPACEHAB. The experiments range from material sciences to life sciences (many rats). STS-107 is scheduled to launch July 11, 2002

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians begin to unwrap the protective cover from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rocket-powered descent stage thrusters for documenting and inspection. The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers lower the Mars Exploration Rover-2 (MER-2) onto the base petal of its lander assembly. Set to launch in Spring 2003, the MER Mission will consist of two identical rovers designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past. The rovers will be identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. The first rover has a launch window opening May 30, and the second rover, a window opening June 25.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., technicians check various parts of NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, spacecraft after its transfer to a transporter. The spacecraft is being prepared for its move to the Hazardous Processing Facility for fueling. The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. A launch date is still to be determined.

In the Space Assembly and Encapsulation Building 2, an overhead crane lifts the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter off its workstand while workers watch its movement. The orbiter is being transferred to a spin table (left, in the foreground) for testing. The orbiter carries three science instruments THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) that will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface, the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface, and characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At Astrotech in Titusville, Fla., a technician attaches cables to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. The orbiter will be rotated on the table to provide proper access for processing. The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with detailed maps of the lunar surface and enhance our understanding of the moon's topography, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition and natural resources. Information gleaned from LRO will be used to select safe landing sites, determine locations for future lunar outposts and help mitigate radiation dangers to astronauts. The polar regions of the moon are the main focus of the mission because continuous access to sunlight may be possible and water ice may exist in permanently shadowed areas of the poles. Accompanying LRO on its journey to the moon will be the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, a mission that will impact the lunar surface in its search for water ice. Launch of

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, technicians prepare to close the lander petals and attached airbags of the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) around the spacecraft prior to launch. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers set to launch in Spring 2003. Landing at different regions of Mars, they are designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past.

GRAIL put into Canister and Canister lifted onto Transporter

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Under the watchful eyes of technicians at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a rocket-powered descent stage, after being lowered by an overhead crane, is integrated with NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, known as Curiosity. The descent stage will lower Curiosity to the surface of Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

A test operator in clean-room garb holds umbilical cables for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity during the rover's first drive test, on July 23, 2010. NASA will launch Curiosity in late 2011 for arrival at Mars in August 2012.

. Europa Clipper Gets Its High-Gain On. Engineers and technicians use a crane to lift a 10-foot (3-meter) high-gain antenna as they prepare to install it on NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft on Aug. 14, 2023. The orbiter is being assembled in the clean room of High Bay 1 at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in preparation for its launch to Jupiter's moon Europa in October 2024. The precision-engineered dish was attached to the spacecraft in carefully choreographed stages over the course of several hours. Europa Clipper will need the huge antenna to transmit data hundreds of millions of miles back to Earth. Scientists believe the icy moon Europa harbors a vast internal ocean that may have conditions suitable for supporting life. The spacecraft will fly by the moon about 50 times while its science instruments gather data on the moon's atmosphere, surface, and interior - information that will help scientists learn more about the ocean, the ice crust, and potenti

Buildings 7 & 29. Explore@NASAGoddard celebrates the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. All areas of Goddards research - Earth science, heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics, and engineering and technology - will be presented, as each discipline plays a critical part in NASA's ongoing journey to reach new heights.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility check the mating of the Mars Exploration Rover 1 (MER-1) cruise stage to the lander below it. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans can't yet go. MER-1 is scheduled to launch June 25 as MER-B aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, under the guidance of the technicians, a crane lifts the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, from the shipping container. The COS, part of the payload on space shuttle Atlantis for the Hubble servicing mission, targeted to launch in mid-May, is being moved to a test stand. Installing the COS during the mission will effectively restore spectroscopy to Hubbles scientific arsenal, and at the same time provide the telescope with unique capabilities. COS is designed to study the large-scale structure of the universe and how galaxies, stars and planets formed and evolved. It will help determine how elements needed for life such as carbon and iron first formed and how their abundances have increased over the lifetime of the universe.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At NASA Kennedy Space Centers Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, a technician from the Applied Physics Laboratory works on the New Horizons spacecraft before installing one of the panels. A series of interconnecting panels will enclose the spacecraft beneath the antenna to maintain safe operating temperatures in space. New Horizons will make the first reconnaissance of Pluto and its moon, Charon - a "double planet" and the last planet in our solar system to be visited by spacecraft. As it approaches Pluto, the spacecraft will look for ultraviolet emission from Pluto's atmosphere and make the best global maps of Pluto and Charon in green, blue, red and a special wavelength that is sensitive to methane frost on the surface. It will also take spectral maps in the near infrared, telling the science team about Pluto's and Charon's surface compositions and locations and temperatures of these materials. When the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its moon,

Inside the B16-10 spacecraft processing hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., workers oversee the uncrating of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA-L) satellite. NOAA-L is part of the Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) program that provides atmospheric measurements of temperature, humidity, ozone and cloud images, tracking weather patterns that affect the global weather and climate. The launch of the NOAA-L satellite is scheduled no earlier than Sept. 12 aboard a Lockheed Martin Titan II rocket

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - Engineers prepare to connect NASA's IRIS spacecraft to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg no earlier than June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

An overhead crane moves The Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) into place to be installed on the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF 2).; The orbiter will carry three science instruments: the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The GRS is a rebuild of the instrument lost with the Mars Observer mission. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canave

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, workers rotate the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft to move it for mating to the upper stage booster. Targeted for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Aug. 3, Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - Engineers prepare to connect NASA's IRIS spacecraft to the nose of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit in June. The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base where IRIS, short for Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket. Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg no earlier than June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., technicians maneuver NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's high-gain antenna into place for stowage. The antenna completed a range of motion test. The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with detailed maps of the lunar surface and enhance our understanding of the moon's topography, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition and natural resources. Information gleaned from LRO will be used to select safe landing sites, determine locations for future lunar outposts and help mitigate radiation dangers to astronauts. Launch of LRO is targeted no earlier than June 2.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the high bay of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, spacecraft technicians from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory attach guide ropes to the turning fixture connected to the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission during preparations to lift it from its support base. The turning fixture will lift and lower the MMRTG onto the MMRTG integration cart. The cart will be used to install the MMRTG on Curiosity for a fit check. The MMRTG will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad.The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, includin

Components of the two Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) reside in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. At right MER-2. At left is a lander. In the background is one of the aeroshells. MER-1 and MER-2, their aeroshells and landers will undergo a full mission simulation before being integrated. After spin balance testing, each spacecraft will be mated to a solid propellant upper stage booster that will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Approximately 10 days before launch they will be transported to the launch pad for mating with their respective Boeing Delta II rockets. The rovers will serve as robotic geologists to seek answers about the evolution of Mars, particularly for a history of water. The rovers are identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. Launch of the first rover is scheduled for May 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The second will follow June 25.

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has been uncreated from its shipping container for inspections and preflight processing. The satellite is NASA's next step in the search for planets outside of the solar system also known as "exoplanets." TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. George Ricker of MITs Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research serves as principal investigator for the mission. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASAs Ames Research Center, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are participants in the mission. NASAs Launch Services Program is responsible for launch management.

VANDENBERG AFB, CALIF. - A worker prepares the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) for encapsulation atop the Pegasus XL rocket before its transport to Florida. The Pegasus is the vehicle that will launch HESSI on its primary mission to explore the basic physics of particle acceleration and energy release in solar flares. The launch of PegasusXL_HESSI is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2002, from beneath an Orbital Sciences Corp. L-1011 aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean

In the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers place the heatshield on NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander prior to encapsulation in its payload fairing. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planets deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

Workers replace a panel on hardware in the Space Station Processing Facility, checking the fit of a Power Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF). The PDGF is part of the payload on mission STS-98, a flight to the International Space Station. During the mission, the crew will install the U.S. Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities

The twin rovers sit side-by-side in different stages of deployment. NASA's Rover 2's (left) front wheels are stowed, while NASA's Rover 1's front wheels are deployed.

Cassini's High and Low Gain Antenna

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, integration between a rocket-powered descent stage and NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, known as Curiosity, is complete. The descent stage will lower Curiosity to the surface of Mars. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a technician checks NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft suspended by an overhead crane. IBEX is undergoing spin balance testing. The IBEX satellite will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX is the first mission designed to detect the edge of the Solar System. As the solar wind from the sun flows out beyond Pluto, it collides with the material between the stars, forming a shock front. IBEX contains two neutral atom imagers designed to detect particles from the termination shock at the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. IBEX also will study galactic cosmic rays, energetic particles from beyond the Solar System that pose a health and safety hazard for humans exploring beyond Earth orbit. IBEX will make these observations from a highly elliptical orbit that takes it beyond the interference of the Earth's magnetos

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., a Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. worker conducts a light sensor test on NASA's Kepler spacecraft. A NASA Discovery mission, Kepler is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. After processing at Astrotech, Kepler will be carried to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. .NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 5 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians process the heat shield for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The spacecraft's heat shield, when joined with the backshell which carries the parachute and several components used during later stages of entry, descent and landing, is called an aeroshell.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

Workers in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 adjust the placement of the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey Orbiter. THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The orbiter will carry three science instruments: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Technicians in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility look over the Mars Exploration Rover -2. MER-1 and MER-2, their aeroshells and landers will undergo a full mission simulation before being integrated. After spin balance testing, each spacecraft will be mated to a solid propellant upper stage booster that will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Approximately 10 days before launch they will be transported to the launch pad for mating with their respective Boeing Delta II rockets. The rovers will serve as robotic geologists to seek answers about the evolution of Mars, particularly for a history of water. The rovers are identical to each other, but will land at different regions of Mars. Launch of the first rover is scheduled for May 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The second will follow June 25.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF.- At Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., spacecraft functional testing is underway on the SciSat-1. The solar arrays are being attached and the communications systems are also being checked out. The SciSat-1 weighs approximately 330 pounds and after launch will be placed in a 400-mile-high polar orbit to investigate processes that control the distribution of ozone in the upper atmosphere. The data from the satellite will provide Canadian and international scientists with improved measurements relating to global ozone processes and help policymakers assess existing environmental policy and develop protective measures for improving the health of our atmosphere, preventing further ozone depletion. The mission is designed to last two years.

VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - The Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or LDCM, spacecraft stands in the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Calif., during fueling operations. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission is the future of Landsat satellites. It will continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government. The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis. The data from the Landsat spacecraft constitute the longest record of the Earth's continental surfaces as seen from space. It is a record unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and value. Launch is planned for Feb. 11, 2013.

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, technicians complete the installation of the heat shield on the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft. The Phoenix mission is the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. It will serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds, last attempted with NASA's Viking missions in the 1970s. A stereo color camera and a weather station will study the surrounding environment while the other instruments check excavated soil samples for water, organic chemicals and conditions tha

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Suited workers at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., begin propellant loading of the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft (seen in the background). Liftoff of MESSENGER aboard a Boeing Delta II Heavy rocket, bound for Mercury, is scheduled for Aug. 2. The spacecraft is expected to reach orbit around the planet in March 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

The 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter is safely placed on a workstand in the Spacecraft Assembly & Encapsulation Facility -2. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter carries three science instruments: the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The GRS is a rebuild of the instrument lost with the Mars Observer mission. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment as related to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Fo

The descent stage of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is being lifted during assembly of the spacecraft in this photograph taken inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the lander petals and attached airbags of the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) are closed around the spacecraft during testing prior to launch. The MER Mission consists of two identical rovers set to launch in Spring 2003. Landing at different regions of Mars, they are designed to cover roughly 110 yards each Martian day over various terrain. Each rover will carry five scientific instruments that will allow it to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past.

In the spacecraft processing facility on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, workers conduct battery charge/discharge cycles as part of the battery conditioning process on Gravity Probe B. The Gravity Probe B will launch a payload of four gyroscopes into low-Earth polar orbit to test two extraordinary predictions of Albert Einsteins general theory of relativity: the geodetic effect (how space and time are warped by the presence of the Earth) and frame dragging (how Earths rotation drags space and time around with it). Once in orbit, for 18 months each gyroscopes spin axis will be monitored as it travels through local spacetime, observing and measuring these effects. The experiment was developed by Stanford University, Lockheed Martin and NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center.

The Mars lander that NASA's InSight mission will use for investigating how rocky planets formed and evolved is being assembled by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians have unwrapped the protective cover from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rocket-powered descent stage thrusters for documenting and inspection. The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The NASA Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft arrived at KSC on April 24 and was transported to the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2) to begin final preparations for launch. CONTOUR will provide the first detailed look into the heart of a comet - the nucleus. The spacecraft will fly as close as 60 miles (100 kilometers) to at least two comets, Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, taking the sharpest pictures yet of the nucleus while analyzing the gas and dust that surround these rocky, icy building blocks of the solar system. The Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., built CONTOUR and will also be in control of the spacecraft after launch, scheduled for July 1, 2002, from LC 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A closeup of the Phoenix Mars Lander on display in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. Phoenix is scheduled to launch Aug. 3 from Launch Pad 17-A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers dressed in clean room attire, known as bunny suits, transfer the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission on its holding base through the doors of the airlock of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) into the facility's high bay. In the high bay, the MMRTG temporarily will be installed on the MSL rover, Curiosity (in the background, at right), for a fit check using the MMRTG integration cart (in the background, at left). The MMRTG will be installed on the rover for launch at the pad.The MMRTG will generate the power needed for the mission from the natural decay of plutonium-238, a non-weapons-grade form of the radioisotope. Heat given off by this natural decay will provide constant power through the day and night during all seasons. Curiosity, MSL's car-sized rover, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and help determine if the g

Technicians prepare to install the solar array for NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) inside Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Aug. 28, 2019. ICON launched on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, attached beneath the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, on Oct. 10, 2019, after takeoff from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society.

A tray holding 39 sample tubes headed to Mars is installed into the Perseverance rover on May 21, 2020, in a clean room at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida during final installation for launch. Each tube is enveloped in its own gold-colored titanium sheath that protects it until the sample handling arm within the rover retrieves it to begin the process of collecting a sample of Martian rock or regolith (dust and crushed rock). In total, the rover carries 43 sample tubes.

Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, a technician places a star tracker cover on the AIM spacecraft during testing of the solar array panel deployment. The AIM spacecraft will fly three instruments designed to study polar mesospheric clouds located at the edge of space, 50 miles above the Earth's surface in the coldest part of the planet's atmosphere. The mission's primary goal is to explain why these clouds form and what has caused them to become brighter and more numerous and appear at lower latitudes in recent years. AIM's results will provide the basis for the study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate and its relationship to global climate change. AIM is scheduled to be mated to its launch vehicle, Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL, during the second week of April, after which final inspections will be conducted. Launch is scheduled for April 25.

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare to unwrap the rocket-powered descent stage for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The descent stage will fly the MSL rover, Curiosity, during the final moments before landing on Mars.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiositys 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rovers spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012.

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