Lockheed Starting Final Mars MAVEN Spacecraft Assembly Work
NASA image
Lockheed Martin has entered the final assembly phase of a spacecraft to study the upper atmosphere on Mars, the company announced Tuesday.
During this five-month phase, the company will install install subsystems, telecomm, mechanisms, thermal systems and navigation and control systems on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft.
MAVEN will undergo environmental testing in early 2013 prior to launching in November 2013.
This follows an August announcement from Lockheed that it is partnering with NASA on a future $425 million Mars mission program.
MAVEN, an unmanned spacecraft, had the propulsion system installed earlier this year and was powered up with flight software for the first time in mid-August.
On Monday, the company received authorization from NASA to move into this phase of the MAVEN project after completing independent reviews of schedule, cost and technical health.
Once on Mars, the spacecraft will study how loss of atmospheric gas to space changed the Martian climate through time.
MAVEN will also calculate the amount of Martian atmosphere lost over time by measuring the current rate of escape to space and gathering information about those processes to estimate previous amounts.
As principal investigator, the University of Colorado at Boulder’s laboratory for atmospheric and space physics provides science operations, builds instruments and leads education and public outreach.
The University of California-Berkeley’s space sciences laboratory is also building instruments.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. manages the project and is building two of the science instruments for the mission.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. provides program management via the Mars Program Office as well as navigation support, the Deep Space Network and telecommunications relay hardware and operations.
MAVEN’s principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university will provide science operations, build instruments, and lead Education/Public Outreach. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the project and is building two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., will build the spacecraft and perform mission operations. The University of California-Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory is building instruments for the mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides Program management via the Mars Program Office, as well as navigation support, the Deep Space Network, and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.
Related posts:
- Lockheed to Design Future NASA Mars Spacecraft; Jim Crocker Comments
- NASA Lands Curiosity Rover on Mars with ATK-Made Tech
- ATK, Lockheed, L-3 Team Completes Commercial Spacecraft; Kent Rominger Comments
- New Year Means New Moon Data for NASA, Lockheed
- Lockheed Provides NASA Interplanetary Spacecraft; Cleon Lacefield Comments