MMA’s HaWK Solar Arrays are ready to provide essential power to MarCO cubesats, which are now integrated on the Atlas V vehicle at Vandenburg AFB, and ready for their launch window on May 5th.
MarCO is the first cubesat mission into deep space!
MarCO is sharing the launch with the InSight Mission and will fly separately to Mars. The Atlas V rocket that will loft InSight beyond Earth will also launch a separate NASA technology demonstration: two mini-spacecraft called Mars Cube One, or MarCO. These briefcase-sized CubeSats will fly on their own path to Mars behind InSight. Their goal is to test new miniaturized deep space communication equipment and, if the MarCOs make it to Mars, may relay back InSight data as it enters the Martian atmosphere and lands. This will be a first test of miniaturized CubeSat technology at another planet, which researchers hope can offer new capabilities to future missions.
MarCO cubesat
Find out more about this exciting mission, and see our HaWK solar arrays in action in this video from JPL.
If successful, the MarCOs could represent a new kind of communication capability to Earth!