NASA Mars Science Laboratory Rover
SENER is participating in the Mars Science Laboratory mission as part of a technology collaboration agreement between NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Spanish Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).
SENER has supplied the pointing mechanism for the high-gain antenna that enables bi-directional communication between the rover, Curiosity, and the mission’s tracking station on Earth. The antenna’s main function is to receive Curiosity’s daily work orders promptly and, thanks to the precision of the mechanism supplied by SENER, this has been done with excellent results during the initial months of the mission to Mars. The high-gain antenna’s pointing mechanism is SENER’s first device operating on a heavenly body other than Earth, making it a new milestone in the company’s work in the space industry.