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Painting Cars for Mars

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We're putting together a rover.

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And this is what it will look
like when it gets to Mars.

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But before we get to this point

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we've got to put
Mars 2020 together.

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I'm Chris Salvo.
I manage the team

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that puts together the rover
mechanical subsystem.

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You see here it's a fully
assembled chassis.

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But it's all still
shiny aluminum.

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We paint it white so that
it reflects sunlight.

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The white reflective property
of the paint is important

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because our paint will need to
survive in temperatures

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as hot as your oven

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and down to temperatures colder
than occur any place on Earth.

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There are lots of areas
on the chassis

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that must not have
paint on them.

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And each of those has to be
carefully masked.

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There can't be any folds. There
can't be any stray edges.

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It all has to be perfect.

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Otherwise we'll wind up
with paint in places

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where we can't have it

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or portions of the structure
that are missing paint

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where we need it.

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Here we are rolling up to
the paint building.

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This very special formulation of
paint has to live through

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all of the difficulties
of getting to Mars,

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shaking on the launch vehicle,

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as well as existing on
the surface of Mars

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in the hot and cold cycles.

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For the paint to work right,

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it has to be just the
right thickness

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and evenly applied.

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To prepare the
aluminum surfaces,

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we have to make sure
they're very clean.

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The shiny aluminum surface
is then reduced to

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more of a scuffed surface
that's ready to accept paint.

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This generates dust as well.

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That all has to be cleaned
and vacuumed off

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so that we don't have any
particles that are

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going to get under the paint

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and keep if from adhering
or cause it to flake off.

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There are rules for the
application of this paint

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that include things
like a time limit

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between when you scuff the
surface of the aluminum

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and when you have to
apply the paint.

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Like most of the assembly
of the rover,

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the painting process is
not fully automated

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like you might see in a
manufacturing plant,

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because we're building
one-of-a-kind machines.

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When you send a
spacecraft into space,

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all of what we call the
volatile materials

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that you take with you--

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the water that's absorbed into
things or other chemicals--

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tend to come out in
the vacuum of space.

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And they float around
and redeposit

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on surfaces where
you don't want.

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One of the ways to prevent
this is to bake it out.

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This is one of our larger
thermal vacuum chambers.

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This oven is 10 feet
in diameter.

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We cook out all of
those chemicals

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that might cause us
problems later.

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After the baking, we
need only to deliver it

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to the assembly facility.

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We have to keep it clean, so
we put it in a double bag.

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When we get to the
assembly building,

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there's a room called
an airlock,

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where we transition from
the dirty outside

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to the clean inside of
the assembly facility.

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We very carefully clean
portions of the fixture

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that are going to touch areas
inside the airlock.

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The outer bag got dirty outside.

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So we take that off
and throw it away.

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And the bag inside
is relatively clean.

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Then we're ready to
leave the airlock

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and come into the main
assembly facility.

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The descent stage and the cruise
stage are here already.

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The rover now joins them so
that the whole spacecraft

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can be put together
and ready for Mars.

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We can then remove
the inner bag.

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This is a big moment!

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All the components that will
control the actions of the rover

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--all the instruments that will
be looking for things on Mars

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go inside this chassis,

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as it forms the foundation
for the entire rover.

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Starting from a pile of
aluminum panels,

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it took 4 months and
over 5,000 work hours

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to get the chassis
to this point.

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It'll take another 3 or 4 months
in the assembly facility

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to turn this chassis into
something that looks like

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a completed rover.

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It'll be an amazing day
for all of us

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to see this rover on top of the
rocket in July of 2020.

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[ ♪ ]

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory