Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] recently delivered the backshell for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The backshell is half of the large and sophisticated two-part aeroshell that will encapsulate and protect the MSL rover during its deep space cruise to Mars. The shell will also protect the MSL from the intense heat and friction that will be generated as the system descends through the Martian atmosphere. Lockheed Martin has designed and built nearly every capsule flown by NASA for space exploration since Apollo, but none as large as the MSL aeroshell at about 15 feet in diameter. For comparison, the heatshields of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers measured 8.5 feet and Apollo capsule heatshields measured just under 13 feet.

In addition to protecting the rover, the backshell provides the structural support for the parachute and unique sky crane, a system that will lower the rover to a soft landing on the surface of Mars. The MSL biconic-shaped backshell is made of an aluminum honeycomb structure sandwiched between graphite-epoxy face sheets and is covered with a thermal protection system composed of the cork/silicone super light ablator (SLA) 561v that originated with the Viking landers. SLA 561v has been used on the heatshields of all Mars landers mission of past, but this is the first time it will be used on the backshell of a Mars mission. Lockheed Martin used the proprietary ablator on the backshell of the successful Genesis mission.