Aerojet Rocketdyne is on a mission to Mars. The rocket motor maker has a contract with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to make motors to help a Mars rover.
According to a news release, Aerojet would also make the power supply through a U.S. Department of Energy contract to help the rover move and make experiments on Mars.
The NASA mission is expected to launch in 2020, and is based on the design of the current rover, Curiosity, operating on the red planet since 2012. The new mission would be to test rock and soil samples with a potential return to Earth, according to the news release.
"Aerojet Rocketdyne has provided propulsion for every Mars mission since Viking 1 and Viking 2, and we are proud to continue that legacy with a mission designed to drive innovation and technologies that may enable humans to live on our planetary neighbor one day," Warren Yasuhara, vice president of space systems, said in a news release.
The power support for the new Mars rover would be nuclear, with no moving parts, making it robust and able to withstand the conditions on Mars, according to Larry Trager, director of advanced power systems.
Aerojet Rockedyne is a subsidiary of Rancho Cordova-based GenCorp. (NYSE: GY).