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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

InSight tests deployment of the seismometer cover

InSight tests deployment of the seismometer cover
InSight tests deployment of the seismometer cover In the laboratory, engineers test the InSight robotic arm. At the tip of the arm is a grapple with five mechanical fingers, shaped to grasp specially designed, ball-shaped handles on top of the devices that it will deploy. Here it is deploying the wind and thermal shield (a cover equipped with a chain mail skirt). The black triangular shape above the grapple is the baffle for the arm camera. NASA / JPL-Caltech