Sierra Nevada Corporation Hardware on NASA’s Mars InSight Mission

SPARKS, Nev., May 08, 2018 – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) hardware is once again on its way to Mars, this time aboard NASA’s InSight Mars lander. SNC’s actuators are a critical component on the robotic arm of the vehicle that launched for Mars on May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast.

“We are proud to provide another critical hardware component for a Martian mission.  Our actuators on the deployment arm will support several of the InSight science instruments,” said Mark Sirangelo, executive vice president of SNC’s Space Systems business area.  “We’ve provided hardware on multiple Mars missions, including several landers and all of the rovers, and we’re looking forward to the data that Mars InSight will provide.”

SNC supplied actuators in the grapple mechanism on the 2.4 meter long Instrument Deployment Arm (IDA), which will be used to place the seismometer and heat probe instruments on the Martian surface. The InSight mission aims to study the inner core, mantle and crust of Mars and discover previously unknown data about the planet. 

“Our engineers are building hardware that can survive harsh environments in our solar system and our equipment has performed flawlessly for mission critical operations,” said Bryan Helgesen, director of business development for SNC’s Space Technologies business unit.  “SNC is building equipment that can withstand the shocks of launch and landing, extended duration radiation, and extreme temperature conditions, among other challenges.”

The grapple on the robotic arm helps secure each piece of hardware the arm lifts with its five mechanical fingers.  The IDA will place a seismometer on the Red Planet’s surface to detect Marsquakes and also will release a probe that digs five meters down into Mars’ interior, deeper than any previous mission.

SNC has been a part of more than a dozen missions to Mars.  Teams in Louisville, Colorado and Durham, North Carolina helped make the equipment for the InSight mission.

For more information regarding NASA's Mars InSight, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/

About Sierra Nevada Corporation
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is a trusted leader in solving the world’s toughest challenges through advanced engineering technologies in Space Systems, Commercial Solutions, and National Security and Defense. Honored as one of the most innovative U.S. companies in space, SNC’s Space Systems business area designs and manufactures advanced spacecraft and satellite solutions, space habitats and environmental systems, propulsion systems, precision space mechanisms and subsystems, and SNC’s celebrated Dream Chaser^® spacecraft. With 30 years of space heritage working with the U.S. government, commercial customers, and the international market, SNC has participated in more than 450 successful space missions and delivered 4,000+ systems, subsystems and components around the world. For more information, visit www.sncorp.com.

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Mars InSight Lander and Instrument Deployment Arm