You hardly could have missed it – last night the NASA InSight lander touched down on the surface of Mars. We are especially excited, as YES!Delft startup T-Minus Engineering has been involved with the mission.

InSight’s objective is to study the ‘inner space’ on Mars. More precisely, to gain an understanding of the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets and determine the planet’s tectonic activity.

Since 2013, T-Minus Engineering has been part of the project as a subcontractor of DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt). They were specifically involved with the HP3 payload, which is central to the mission’s objective. The payload consists of a mechanical “Mole” that can penetrate the surface up to 5 meters.

T-Minus Engineering was involved via DLR Bremen in the Assembly Integration and Testing (AIT) work on prototypes, proto-flight and flight models of the Mole. Moreover, they worked on the development- and qualification testing activities, in terms of test design, preparation, execution, and reporting.

 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech