Saturday 27th October Sol 80

The Mars Yard at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory contains the ‘Scarecrow’
Curiosity rover, used to test going over obstacles and up slopes.  The suspension system of Curiosity has a
bogie (attached to 4 wheels) and rocker, with a cross bar (‘differential’) linking
the two sides. This combines to allow even distribution of mass between the 6
wheels.  Watching the scarecrow pick its
way across the Mars Yard is encouraging for our objectives in Gale Crater.  The science team were allowed to drive the
Scarecrow which gave us a great feel for how it moves on Mars.

A more detailed model in the workshop beside the Mars Yard is
used to test the Curiosity instruments like the drill which we will be using
during the mission.  I find it useful in
the model to see how all the many smaller  instruments and tools on Curiosity are
distributed relative to each other.