CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have taken the agency’s SUV-sized Mars 2020 rover for a spin so to speak. And its all in the name of science !

As assembly of the Mars 2020 rover nears completion, the team needs to determine the six wheeled robots center of gravity so that it can travel smoothly and safely as she plummets through the Red Planet’s thin atmosphere while enduring the terrifying 7 minutes of terror and hopefully touches down softly following the skycrane maneuver targeted for Jezero Crater in Feb. 2021.

As seen in the video above, Mars 2020 went for a spin on Aug. 29. 

“The 2,300-pound (1,040-kilogram) Martian vehicle was rotated clockwise and counterclockwise at about 1 revolution per minute on what is called a spin table in the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. (The rotation was speeded up in the video above.) The engineers were looking for the rover’s center of gravity, or the point at which weight is evenly dispersed on all sides,” NASA said in a statement.

Altogether the team attached nine tungsten weights totaling 44 pounds (20 kilograms) to the rover chassis to get the center of gravity just right.  Another spin tst will be conducted duing final checkout at KSC. The same procedures were done for Curiosity during her assembly and testing phase prior to 2011 launch. 

“The spin table process is similar to how a gas station would balance a new tire before putting it on your car,” said Lemil Cordero, Mars 2020 mass properties engineer at JPL, in a statement. 

“We rotate the rover back and forth and look for asymmetries in its mass distribution. Then, similar to your gas station putting small weights on the tire’s rim to bring it into balance, we’ll put small balance masses on the rover in specific locations to get its center of gravity exactly where we want it.”

NASA has also invited K-12 students to enter a new naming contest and submit worthy names for the 2020 Rover.

Think fast because the deadline to enter the contest and submit your name is Nov. 1, 2019.

Details about how the rules and how to enter NASA’s naming contest for the Mars 2020 rover are here: https://go.nasa.gov/name2020

Furthermore – don’t forget that NASA is inviting the public to send their name along for the journey that begins with blastoff of the ‘2020 Rover’ in July 2020.

From now until Sept. 30, you can send your name to Mars by adding it to a chip to be loaded on board for the journey.

You can sign up and obtain a souvenir boarding pass to Mars here: https://go.nasa.gov/Mars2020Pass

Over 7.0 million people have already signed up to place their names on the chips as of today, June 12.

I was fortunate to visit with Curiosity in the KSC clean room back in 2011, 3 weeks before liftoff.  A memory I’ll always cherish !

The 1 ton rover (2,300 pounds, 1,000 kilograms) is nearly a copy of the NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Lab rover still operating on Mars – but with a completely new suite of science instruments and cameras as well as the 1st Mars Helicopter.

The Mars 2020 rover will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The launch window opens in July 2020.

It is being targeted to touch down at Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

Mars 2020 will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the planet’s climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. 

Sep 21: 1 PM: American Space
Museum, 308 Pine Street,
Titusville, Florida. 

“Exploring Mars and the Search for life – 3D” – Learn all about NASA’s
Curiosity Mars rover illustrated with Ken’s custom created Mars rover panoramas
from Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity and up close clean room and launch pad
views. Free and open to public.  Ken’s Space/Rocket/Mars imagery for sale
to support his outreach