MDA has been developing planetary exploration systems for over a decade. Building
upon 30 years of robotics heritage in manned and unmanned spaceflight, MDA offers
a broad suite of technologies that span the range of exploration phases:
- orbital reconnaissance
- orbital rendezvous and docking
- precision landing & hazard avoidance
- surface science instruments
- advanced vision (laser & camera based)
- rovers and surface mobility
- manipulators / robotic arms
- surface and subsurface sample acquisition, processing & handling
As a leading prime contractor for space missions, MDA combines flight hardware heritage
with end-to-end system capability and has developed systems, technologies and mission
concepts for exploration of the Moon, Mars, asteroids and other solar system bodies.
MDA is providing technologies for the next three international Mars surface missions,
for example:
- NASA Phoenix Meteorological Station
(MET): MDA designed and developed the Phoenix MET instrument to characterize
the Martian atmosphere. The lidar instrument was built in partnership with lidar
partner Optech, the CSA and FMI. Phoenix was launched successfully in 2007 and landed on Mars on May 25, 2008
- MSL Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): due to launch in
2009, MDA designed and built the MSL APXS instrument which will provide elemental
composition measurements to better understand Mars geology aboard the MSL rover.
- ESA ExoMars Rover: MDA is currently leading Phase B1 design activity
for the ExoMars Rover Chassis & Locomotion System, including the delivery of an
ExoMars Locomotion Breadboard in early 2008. ExoMars is scheduled for launch in
2013.
MDA works extensively with industrial and academic partners internationally and
has provided exploration systems and technologies for a wide range of government
customers including NASA, DARPA, ESA, CSA and JAXA. MDA has a long and successful
history in commercial space and is leveraging this experience in the execution of
contracts for a number of partners in the emerging area of commercial space exploration.