LOS ANGELES — The San Gabriel Mountains rise over a rough patch of sun-baked volcanic boulders, dusty flagstones and earthen slopes. Amid the terrain, a hulking creature of titanium, aluminum and silicon creeps through the sand, its wheels squealing like nails on a chalkboard.
NASA engineer Brian Cooper watches as the mock-up of the Mars rover inches over jagged lava rocks that would have stopped previous versions.
The “Mars Yard” at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is meant to be a torture test, but this rover is crushing every piece of it beneath its six, drum-sized aluminum wheels.
“We’ve essentially put a monster truck on Mars,” Cooper said as he guided the robot across the landscape in La Canada Flintridge with his iPhone.
Cooper is part of a select group of engineers and programmers who have trained for years to drive the rover Curiosity on its journey over the harshness of Gale Crater.
Their job is an arcane calling that is mentally grueling and demands a unique temperament and skill set. Only 20 people worldwide have qualified.
Now, with the Curiosity rover wheels-down on the Red Planet, drivers are awaiting the chance to operate NASA’s biggest and baddest rover, a device twice the size of its predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, and loaded with improvements, such as a nuclear battery and a laser that can vaporize rock. If all goes well, the rover will begin making tracks this week after a full system check.
“We just want them to hand us the keys,” said driver Frank Hartman.
Unlike the popular vision of mission controllers guiding the rover with a joystick or steering wheel, Cooper and his colleagues will spend days crafting computer code that must take into account every boulder and crevice that Curiosity spots with its onboard cameras.
To join this group, the drivers must sacrifice some of their earthly existence and live on Mars time.
For months, operators will be sequestered from family and friends to focus on Mars. While the mission is scheduled to run 23 months, it could last much longer.
The stress can be overwhelming. Separated from the rover by millions of miles, they know they can make no mistakes. A single slip-up can turn the ambitious scientific mission into a $2.5 billion Martian paperweight.
The jobs are highly coveted, and applicants are vetted to ensure they can handle the stress.
“Unless you have a really good support team at home, to take care of all the chores, pay the bills, make sure your daughter gets to school and that sort of thing — unless you have that, it’s going to be difficult,” Cooper said.
