SpaceDev devices land on Mars

POWAY, Calif., 28 May 2008. SpaceDev Inc. provided an array of hardware and instruments for the Phoenix Lander that landed on Mars' north arctic plane Sunday, May 25. SpaceDev mechanical systems on the spacecraft included 16 devices supporting the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument, eight actuators on the Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument, two actuators deploying the solar arrays, two actuators pointing the Stereo Surface Imager (SSI) camera, and three actuators on the robotic arm. All in all, more than 30 SpaceDev devices are now on the surface of Mars supporting the Phoenix spacecraft.

"We congratulate the Phoenix team for a challenging job well done. It is an extraordinary thing to land a spacecraft on another planet," says Mark N. Sirangelo, SpaceDev's chairman and CEO. "We are honored to play an integral part of this important program. This is the 11th trip to the Red Planet where our products played an important role in the mission and we look forward to a successful effort to search for water and other organic materials on Mars."