September 1987
From The Space Library
Martin Marietta Corporation announced that its Denver-based Space Systems group was one of the companies awarded two NASA contracts to study and design spacecraft for a mission to Mars. A contract to study the techniques of a robotic rover to traverse the Martian surface was awarded by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA awarded a similar contract to the FMC Corporation of Santa Clara, California.
The second contract was awarded by NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, Texas. It called on Martin Marietta to study braking methods that would allow a spacecraft to orbit Mars, enter its atmosphere, and descend to the surface of the planet. The Lockheed Missiles and Space Company of Sunnyvale, California, was the other company awarded this study contract by the JSC.
Martin Marietta was the company that designed, built, and tested the twin Viking spacecraft that landed on the surface of Mars in 1976 and 1977. (Av Wk, Oct 26/87; B Sun, Oct 1/87, Rocky Mountain News, Oct 1/87)
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