How to Wrap a Mars Rover

On June 16, 2011, visitors to the Curiosity Cam had their last-ever glimpse of the rover while on Earth. Bunny-suited engineers placed her (already turned upside down, in her launch configuration, with wheels tucked up tight against her body) on a mount and wrapped her in a silver biocidal foil called Amerstat, holding the wrapped present together with orange Kapton tape. Then they placed her in the bottom half of her shipping container, in which she will be flown to Kennedy Space Center to prepare for her launch on an Atlas V in November.

On June 16, 2011, visitors to the Curiosity Cam had their last-ever glimpse of the rover while on Earth. Bunny-suited engineers placed her (already turned upside down, in her launch configuration, with wheels tucked up tight against her body) on a mount and wrapped her in a silver biocidal foil called Amerstat, holding the wrapped present together with orange Kapton tape. Then they placed her in the bottom half of her shipping container, in which she will be flown to Kennedy Space Center to prepare for her launch on an Atlas V in November.