OVERVIEW As part of NASA’s unmanned planetary exploration program, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory built a next-generation rover, called the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The largest rover yet to be sent to Mars, it was designed to search for evidence of microbial life, past or present. With a first-of-its-kind landing system, the rover was lowered from a slowly descending rocket-controlled stage via tethers and touched down using the same mobility system that it uses to traverse the planet. Advanced testing methodologies were called for to understand this sequence. ATA Engineering supported this work with the design and manufacture of a representative rover chassis for full-scale touchdown testing. TASKS PERFORMED & KEY OUTCOMES h Created a conceptual design that fulfilled requirem

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