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Aerojet Engines Steer Latest Red Planet Mission
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 10, 2005 Aerojet, a GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) company, will cap three decades of providing propulsion for missions to Mars when the Atlas® V launches the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Aerojet has provided propulsion for every United States Mars mission dating back to the Viking Landers in the 1970s, and will continue to support exploration of the planet with upcoming missions.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will be launched by a Lockheed Martin Atlas V launch vehicle with Aerojet provided monopropellant engines for the upper stage. Under a contract with Lockheed Martin, which designed and built the MRO spacecraft as well as the Atlas V, Aerojet also provided engines for the spacecraft’s seven month cruise to Mars, Mars Orbit Insertion and inorbit maintenance during its multi-year mission at Mars. MRO is a mission managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the NASA Science Mission Directorate.
MRO will examine the red planet in unprecedented detail from low orbit and will augment the Mars Global Surveyor, which is still in operations six years past its planned primary mission. Both the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey spacecrafts use Aerojet thrusters to maintain their orbits.
MRO will provide essential details for the Mars Phoenix lander, planned for launch in 2007. Phoenix will carry both cruise and lander engines built by Aerojet.
Aerojet provided cruisestage spacecraft propulsion that delivered the highly successful Mars Exploration Rovers “Spirit” and “Opportunity.” The rovers continue to operate more than 18 months after landing.
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