The Mars 2020 Spacecraft Readies for Testing

A CLOSER LOOK

The completed spacecraft that will carry NASA's next Mars rover to the Red Planet is suspended by cables as it is prepared for thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing in the Space Simulator Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. From the top down is the complete cruise stage, which will power and guide the Mars 2020 spacecraft on its seven-month voyage to the Red Planet. Directly below that is the aeroshell (white back shell and barely visible black heat shield), which will protect the vehicle during cruise as well as during its fiery descent into the Martian atmosphere. Not visible (because it's cocooned inside the aeroshell) is the completed rocket-powered descent stage and the surrogate rover (a stand-in for the real rover, which is undergoing final assembly in JPL'

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