ED11-0165-16
Project: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Landing Radar
NASA Dryden’s F/A-18 No. 852 made a 40-degree dive toward Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB with the Mars Science Laboratory’s (MSL) landing radar under its left wing during verification and validation flights. Project flights flown during the spring of 2011 included vertical 90-degree dives.
During 2011, the Dryden F/A-18 flights focused on calibrating the radar during the on-chute acquisition portion of the MSL’s entry into the Martian atmosphere, when the spacecraft was suspended from its parachute. A two-seat Dryden F/A-18 aircraft, with a Dryden pilot flying and a Dryden flight engineer in the rear seat operating the radar system’s controls, performed steep dives of up to 90 degrees over Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, CA.
Read more.June 1, 2011
NASA / Carla Thomas