NASA JPL's Mars Science Lab landing radar test unit in its Quick Test Experimental Pod (QTEP), attached to the left wing of NASA Dryden's F/A-18 aircraft tail number 852.
ED11-0184-03
Project: Mars Science Lab (MSL) Quick Test Experimental Pod (QTEP)
NASA JPL’s Mars Science Lab landing radar test unit in its QTEP, attached to the left wing of NASA Dryden’s F/A-18 aircraft tail number 852.
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.
June 2011
NASA photo / Carla Thomas