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S96-13428 (6 August 1996) --- This artist's rendering shows Pathfinder's unique descent to the surface of Mars. The spacecraft, enclosed in a cocoon of airbags, has just been severed from the tether which connected it to a huge parachute and Viking-derived heatshield used to slow the spacecraft's speed after entry in the Martian atmosphere. Once the spacecraft comes to a halt, the airbags will deflate and the spacecraft will stand itself side up, then open its panels to expose its solar panels. As the Sun rises over Mars, Pathfinder will power on, along with a miniature companion rover, called Sojourner, which sits on the inside of one of its panels. Sojourner will use one of two exit ramps to roll off the lander and drive onto the surface of Mars. There it will begin a week of science experiments on the surface of Mars, while the lander takes panoramic photographs of the Martian terrain. The Mars Pathfinder mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C., and is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a Delta II expendable launch vehicle on December 2, 1996.
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JSC2007-E-22760 (8 May 2007) --- NASA flight surgeon Josef F. Schmid (right) and astronaut/aquanaut Jose M. Hernandez participate in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) for the 12th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission. This image features assembly of the Luna-sea structure, which is to simulate a tower that might have to be built on the moon or Mars someday to aid in extending the horizon for communications. The NEEMO 12 crew is spending 12 days, May 7-18, on an undersea mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory, which is operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and located off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
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JSC2007-E-22756 (8 May 2007) --- NASA flight surgeon Josef F. Schmid participates in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) for the 12th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission. This image features assembly of the Luna-sea structure, which is to simulate a tower that might have to be built on the moon or Mars someday to aid in extending the horizon for communications. The NEEMO 12 crew is spending 12 days, May 7-18, on an undersea mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory, which is operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and located off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
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JSC2007-E-22768 (8 May 2007) --- A remotely operated vehicle (ROV), called Scuttle, was photographed during a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) for the 12th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission. The copper colored cylinder on top is the transponder and a camera is mounted at the top of the pole. Crewmembers visible in the background are assembling the Luna-sea structure, which is to simulate a tower that might have to be built on the moon or Mars someday to aid in extending the horizon for communications. The NEEMO 12 crew is spending 12 days, May 7-18, on an undersea mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory, which is operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and located off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
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JSC2007-E-22755 (8 May 2007) --- NASA flight surgeon Josef F. Schmid (left) and astronaut/aquanaut Jose M. Hernandez participate in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) for the 12th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission. This image features assembly of the Luna-sea structure, which is to simulate a tower that might have to be built on the moon or Mars someday to aid in extending the horizon for communications. The NEEMO 12 crew is spending 12 days, May 7-18, on an undersea mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory, which is operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and located off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
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JSC2006-E-14929 (14 April 2006) --- View of the structure called ?Waterlab? for the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) project. This structure is to simulate a tower that might have to be built on the moon or Mars someday to aid in extending the horizon for communications. The NEEMO-9 crew is spending 18 days, April 3-20, on an undersea mission aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s (NOAA) Aquarius Underwater Laboratory, located off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
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JSC2004-E-31293 (July 2004) --- Controllers Ed Van Cise and Karen Bush are seen at work in the Experimental Planning and Operations Center (ExPOC) during NEEM0 6. One of the unique things about NEEMO missions is the communication system used to allow aquanauts in the water off the Florida Keys to converse with a ?mission control? team (called the Advanced Operations Cadre), located in the ExPOC, near the Mission Control Center in Houston. The aquanauts wear wireless underwater communication units attached to a special full face mask that allows them to talk to each other, the habitat, and the ExPOC all while performing complex tasks in the water. For all of the EVAs, the ExPOC is monitoring the crew?s location and other vital information by talking directly with the crew. In order to characterize how these units perform in this environment, personnel developed a communications task where the aquanauts swim out to a specific area on the reef and perform a prescribed test protocol. Back in Houston, the ExPOC rates the quality of the communication and records the results. This exercise is analogous to the types of activities a newly arrived crew on the Moon or Mars might experience.
Description
JSC2004-E-31292 (July 2004) --- Controllers Ed Van Cise and Karen Bush are seen at work in the Experimental Planning and Operations Center (ExPOC) during NEEM0 6. One of the unique things about NEEMO missions is the communication system used to allow aquanauts in the water off the Florida Keys to converse with a ?mission control? team (called the Advanced Operations Cadre), located in the ExPOC, near the Mission Control Center in Houston. The aquanauts wear wireless underwater communication units attached to a special full face mask that allows them to talk to each other, the habitat, and the ExPOC all while performing complex tasks in the water. For all of the EVAs, the ExPOC is monitoring the crew?s location and other vital information by talking directly with the crew. In order to characterize how these units perform in this environment, personnel developed a communications task where the aquanauts swim out to a specific area on the reef and perform a prescribed test protocol. Back in Houston, the ExPOC rates the quality of the communication and records the results. This exercise is analogous to the types of activities a newly arrived crew on the Moon or Mars might experience.
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![In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2), the *Mars Polar Lander* [ http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/captions/subjects/mars.htm ] is lowered onto the third stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket before it is transported to Launch Pad 17B, Cape Canaveral Air Station. The lander, which will be launched on Jan. 3, 1999, is a solar-powered spacecraft designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south pole in order to study the water cycle there. The lander also will help scientists learn more about climate change and current resources on Mars, studying such things as frost, dust, water vapor and condensates in the Martian atmosphere. It is the second spacecraft to be launched in a pair of Mars '98 missions. The first is the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17A on Dec. 11, 1998](http://nasaimages.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/iiif/nasaNAS~6~6~55329~159172/full/,192/0/default.jpg)
