Mars Rovers: Inside NASA's Control Room
This article provides a behind-the-scenes look at the daily operations of NASA's Curiosity rover team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Scientists and engineers work in high-pressure shifts to analyze data and send new commands to the rover on Mars.
Why it matters
It highlights the complex human-machine collaboration required to conduct long-term scientific exploration on another planet.
Lights blink on as I enter the Rover Operations Center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, at 7:30 a.m. I'm the first to arrive, even though I already feel late.
Project Scientist, Mars Science Laboratory, NASA
Sometime during the night on Earth, the Curiosity rover finished its day exploring on Mars and beamed its latest collection of images and measurements to a Mars orbiter zooming by overhead. The orbiter relayed the data to Earth, where it now waits on servers here and at partner institutions around the globe.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in