In Just A Few Years, NASA's Next Mars Rover Mission Will Be Flying To The Red Planet
At a glance, it looks a lot like its predecessor, the Curiosity Mars rover. But there's no doubt it's a souped-up science machine: It has seven new instruments, redesigned wheels and more autonomy. A drill will capture rock cores, while a caching system with a miniature robotic arm will seal up these samples. Then, they'll be deposited on the Martian surface for possible pickup by a future mission.
The ViaSat-2 satellite has successfully arrived in geostationary orbit at 69.9° west longitude, and has transitioned into orbit normal mode (earth pointing) with its reflector and radiator deployments now complete. The Company also confirmed the ViaSat-2 satellite has commenced in-orbit testing, including the key milestone of the first end-to-end system test, with the ViaSat-2 satellite transmitting and receiving data to and from the new Viasat ground segment.
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