Sierra Nevada Corporation Supports NASA on SNC’s 14th Mission to Mar

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the global aerospace and national security leader owned by Eren and Fatih Ozmen, has contributed eight unique components being used on NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, including parts that enable the rover’s safe and stable descent onto the Martian surface.  This is the 14th Mars mission that SNC has supported through its critical parts and components. 

SNC’s eight mechanisms are used in 17 applications on the rover like the robotic arm, turret coring drill and caching assembly. “These applications are the heart of the Mars 2020 mission,” said SNC CEO Fatih Ozmen. “We are so excited that SNC’s custom-designed engineering is facilitating the groundbreaking work NASA wants to accomplish, in collecting samples from the Mars surface and preparing them to send back to Earth for analysis. We’re so proud to once again be part of the team.” 

SNC engineering will be front and center when Perseverance makes it descent onto the red planet using the sky crane maneuver. Without the SNC-engineered descent brake mechanism, which has been utilized on prior Mars missions as well, the rover could not safely land on the surface of Mars. The descent brake ensures the rover lowers to Mars in a controlled manner. If the rover is lowered too slowly, the sky crane could run out of fuel and crash before getting the rover to the Mars surface.

Perseverance is also making history by carrying Ingenuity, the first helicopter to fly on another planet. SNC will play a crucial part in getting Ingenuity airborne, having developed the mechanism that assists in its deployment. Once in flight, Ingenuity will study Mars from above, scouting locations for Perseverance to explore. 

“SNC continues to advance space exploration with innovative technical solutions,” said Senior Vice President of Programs and former NASA astronaut Janet Kavandi. “Our extensive flight heritage makes us a trusted provider of critical hardware to NASA flagship exploration programs.” 

SNC has supplied more than 4,000 subsystems and components to the U.S. government, prime contractors and international customers since 1987, on over 400 space missions, with 100% mission success.

Perseverance is expected to land on Mars in February of 2021. 

About Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)

Owned by Chairwoman and President Eren Ozmen and CEO Fatih Ozmen, SNC is a trusted leader in solving the world’s toughest challenges through best-of-breed, open architecture engineering in Space Systems, Commercial Solutions, and National Security and Defense. SNC is recognized among The Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Space, as a Tier One Superior Supplier for the U.S. Air Force and is the only aerospace and defense firm selected as a 2020 US Best Managed Company. For nearly 60 years, SNC has delivered state-of-the-art civil, military and commercial solutions including more than 4,000 space systems, subsystems and components to customers worldwide, and participation in more than 450 missions to space, including to Mars.