Brenda Marie Rivers
Single board computers that BAE Systems manufactured made it possible for NASA's most recent Martian spacecraft to land on the red planet.
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BAE recently revealed that the U.S. space agency had equipped the InSight robotic lander with radiation-hardened RAD750 SBCs, electronic components that provide onboard computing power necessary for different kinds of space missions.
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Jim LaRosa, the company's director for Space Processor and Products, said that, in the case of InSight, the RAD750s "commanded a series of critical maneuvers" as the lander descended onto the Martian surface.
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InSight launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in May last year and spent the next six months traveling to the solar system’s fourth planet. The spacecraft touched down on Nov. 26 following a roughly seven-minute descent.
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InSight is NASA’s first Mars landing since the Curiosity rover in 2012 and the eighth Mars mission featuring BAE electronics.
