NASA Selects Northrop-Built Performance Measurement Tech for Perseverance Mars Rover

NASA has partnered with Northrop Grumman to deploy the latter’s inertial navigation system designed to help extend the operational life of the agency’s Mars exploration rover Perseverance.

Northrop and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will integrate and test the LN-200S inertial measurement unit with Perseverance ahead of the rover's launch scheduled to take place over the next two months, said Friday

LN-200S is a small fiber-optic gyroscope that contains silicon micro-electromechanical elements that work to measure Perseverance's angle changes and velocity during its probe of the Martian surface.

The tool is meant to stretch the rover’s shelf life beyond 1,071 Earth days, according to Northrop.

Brandon White, vice president for navigation and positioning systems at Northrop, said the LN-200S platform’s history of supporting prior missions to low- and geosynchronous-Earth orbit will enable it to “play an essential part” in NASA’s long-term scientific pursuits.

Northrop previously provided LN-200 systems for NASA's Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers. The company has delivered over 35K of the IMUs for other space and undersea missions since 1994.