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Hello everyone, my name is David Gruel.

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And I’m the Assembly Test and Launch Operation
Manager for the Mars

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Science Laboratory project.

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I’m coming to you from a clean room at the
Kennedy Space Center where

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my team is currently conducting the final
functional test of the MSL flight

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hardware destined for Mars.

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I’d like to take a moment and introduce
you to the flight vehicles that make

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up the MSL spacecraft and then introduce you
also to the Curiosity rover

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Over here we have our crew stage. The crew
stage is comprised of a solar

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ray, several guidance sensors and a 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 have
served its purpose and we

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jettison it and it burns up in the atmosphere
before we actually make first

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contact with the atmosphere itself.

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Over here, we have part of the aero shell
that protects the vehicle as we go

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through the Martian atmosphere.

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The back shell’s the vehicle over here in
white, which provides an interface

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to a large deceleration parachute.

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And over here, is the heat shield. And the
heat shield has the protective

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insulative titles that keep curiosity safe
as all the heat is generated as we

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actually make our way through the Martian
atmosphere.

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Behind me is the descent stage. The descent
stage is the jet pack that

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safely gets Curiosity down to the surface
of Mars.

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Unlike Pathfinder, and the twin rovers Spirit
and Opportunity, which utilized

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airbags to make it down to the surface, Curiosity
relies on the descent

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stage and its jet pack to actually make it
down to the surface.

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Using retro rockets and a terminal descent
radar system, this is what

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actually carries Curiosity safely down the
surface so that it can actually get

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its wheels on to the ground to perform its
science.

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Coming up next, we'll show you what Curiosity
actually looks like and the

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configuration it will appear once it actually
safely makes it down to the

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surface of Mars in August of next year.

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So here's the star the show, the Curiosity
rover. Here Curiosity looks the

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same way that she’ll look when she makes
it to the surface of Mars and

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deploys all of her mechanisms.

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Sticking up off the top deck of the rover
is a remote science mast which

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contains all of our stereo imagery.

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You can also see the six wheels which will
actually propel Curiosity around

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the surface of Mars. As well as the robotic
arm which is sticking off the front

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of the vehicle with the turret which allows
us to do science on rocks that are

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in the vicinity the rover and return samples
to science instruments that are

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contained on the body the rover itself.

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All total there’s nine science instruments
would return all sorts of exciting

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science from the surface of Mars.

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Up next for us, were ready start stacking
the vehicle. And from there,