The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) passed flight-qualification after testing in March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel at NASA's Ames Research Center. In this image, an engineer is dwarfed by the parachute, the largest ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial flight. It is designed to survive deployment at Mach 2.2 in the Martian atmosphere, where it will generate up to 65,000 lb of drag force. The parachute, built by Pioneer Aerospace, has 80 suspension lines, measures more than 165 feet in length, and opens to a diameter of nearly 51 feet. The wind tunnel itself is 80 feet tall and 120 feet wide -- large enough to house a Boeing 737. JPL is building and testing the MSL spacecraft, which is slated to launch in 2011. The mission will land a roving analytical laboratory on the surface of Mars in 2012. Image Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/JPL
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