Lockheed to Design Future NASA Mars Spacecraft; Jim Crocker Comments

NASA image

Lockheed Martin will build and operate a spacecraft to help NASA in its future Mars expedition, the company announced Monday.

The company’s space systems unit in Denver will develop the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport spacecraft.

Once on the planet, the InSight spacecraft will install a seismograph and heat flow probe into the Martian surface.

Lockheed will work with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in moving the mission from the drawing board to the surface of Mars, said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager of civil space within space systems.

The $425 million InSight program, based on 2010 dollars, will explore the surface beneath Mars to measure the planet’s vital signs including seismology, temperature and reflexes.

InSight, to be launched in 2016, is similar to the Lockheed-built Mars lander that probed the north pole of Mars in 2008, the company said.

Upon landing on Elysium Planitia, a flat area near the planet’s equator, InSight will install a seismograph and heat flow probe into the Martian surface.

The InSight program is the sixth NASA Discovery program mission for the company.

The company and NASA are also working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to review designs and systems on a satellite constellation for weather forecasting.

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