[SatNews] Astrium Spain, through its site in Madrid, has delivered the flight model of the High Gain Antenna System (HGAS) to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA. This is the main and final milestone of this contract within the frame of bilateral collaboration agreements between JPL and CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial) which holds the Spanish delegation to ESA.

The program was initiated in 2006 as an extension of the Spanish collaboration in the REMS instrument, led by the Astrobiology Centre (CAB), with support and advice from Professor Juan Pérez Mercader, Director of CAB during that period, establishing the signature of the corresponding bilateral collaboration agreements necessary for the participation of the Spanish space companies. The High Gain Antenna System will be integrated on the next Mars rover that NASA is preparing — Curiosity — within the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Some of the objectives of this mission are: to examine rocks from Mars in order to analyse the geologic processes which formed them, to study the Martian atmosphere, and to determine the distribution and circulation of water and carbon dioxide in any state - solid, liquid or gaseous. When the rover communicates with Earth from the Martian surface, it will send its messages through the HG Antenna. This antenna is capable of transmitting an information beam in a specific direction, as it is steerable, and it may be moved to point directly towards Earth. The advantage of a steerable antenna is that there is no need to reorient the rover itself in order to ‘speak’ with Earth, saving energy since the only movement required is that of the antenna.