Technicians and engineers dressed from head to toe in blue coveralls (called 'bunny suits') prepare the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's large, black high-gain antenna (that resembles a satellite dish) to be mated with the body of the spacecraft.  The bus of the spacecraft with nearly all of its instruments in place, sits just to the left of the people pictured.  Parts of the orbiter are covered in gold, shiny thermal blanketing.  Facing directly upward is the spacecraft's huge Hi-RISE camera covered in black protective blanketing.

July 14, 2009

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, workers from Lockheed Martin prepare the high-gain antenna for installation on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), in the background.

Credits

NASA/JPL-Caltech

ENLARGE

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