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my name is David gruel and I'm the

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assembly test and launch operations

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manager for the Mars Science Laboratory

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project I'm coming to you from a

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cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center

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where my team is currently conducting

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the final functional tests of the MSL

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flight hardware destined for Mars over

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here we have our crew stage the crew

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stage is comprised of a solar array

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several guidance sensors and a

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propellant system that basically gets

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the MSL spacecraft from Earth to Mars

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once we get to Mars the vehicle will

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have served its purpose and we jettison

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it and it burns up in the atmosphere

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before we actually make first contact

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with the atmosphere itself the backshell

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is the vehicle over here in white which

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provides an interface to a large

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deceleration parachute and over here is

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the heat shield and the heat shield has

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the protective insulative tiles that

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keep curiosity safe well as all the heat

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is generated as we actually wake our way

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through the Martian atmosphere behind me

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is the descent stage the descent stage

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is the jetpack that safely gets

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curiosity down to the surface of Mars

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unlike Pathfinder and the twin rovers

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Spirit and Opportunity which utilized

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airbags to make it down to the surface

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curiosity relies on the descent stage

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and this jetpack to actually make it

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down to the surface using retro rockets

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and a terminal descent radar system this

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is what actually carries the Curiosity

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safely down to the surface so that it

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can actually gets wheels onto the ground

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perform its science so here's the star

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of the show the Curiosity rover here

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curiosity looks the same way that she'll

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look when she makes to the surface of

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Mars and deploys all of her mechanisms

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sticking up off the top deck of the

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rover is a remote science mast which

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contains all of our stereo imagery you

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can also see the six wheels which will

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actually propel curiosity around the

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surface of Mars as well as the robotic

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arm which is sticking off the front of

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the vehicle with the turret which allows

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us to do science on rocks that are in

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the vicinity of the rover and return

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samples to science instruments that are

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contained on the body of the rover

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itself all total there's nine science

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instruments which will return all sorts

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of exciting science from the surface of

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Mars up next for us we're ready to start

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stacking the vehicle and from there

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we're looking forward to a great mission

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as curiosity launches and lands on the