Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Space cables made in Dundee critical to $2 billion mission to find life on Mars

A Dundee firm will play a vital role in the success of a NASA mission to look for life on Mars.

The Mars 2020 programme, costing more than $2 billion, will land a rover on the Martian surface where it will seek signs of ancient life.

Wire and cables assembled by WL Gore & Associates at Dundee’s Technology Park are being used on the mission, which launched from Florida last month.

The Gore cables will play a vital role in data communication when the rover undertakes a highly complex landing operation when it reaches the Red Planet in February.

They can also be found on the rover itself, which is about the size of the car and packed with scientific instruments.

Jeff Fyfe, Gore’s space global business leader based in Dundee, said: “This is a really proud moment for staff in Dundee. We’re honoured to be part of this momentous mission to explore Mars.

“Gore has a long history of working alongside NASA and the European Space Agency to meet the most demanding mission specifications.

Jeff Fyfe

“We have a fantastic legacy that spans back for over 50 years of space missions and a 100% failure-free flight record.

“Gore’s continuous innovation has earned our space division a global reputation and it is an exciting time for Associates to be part of history in the making.”

Gore space cables have been used in more than 100 space missions, including the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

The sky crane process when the rover is dropped using cables.

The Mars 2020 mission has a very precise landing sequence, with several stages taking place over around seven minutes.

After entering the Martian atmosphere at a speed of around 12,100 miles an hour, a capsule will leave the spacecraft and use a parachute to dramatically slow its speed.

The rover, connected to more rockets, drops from the capsule about a mile from the ground.

After the rockets slow the speed further, a sky crane manoeuvre takes place where the rover is lowered using cables that ensure a smooth landing.

The company opened the Gore Space Centre of Excellence in Dundee last year which saw work transferred from other facilities around the world to the city.

Over the past two years staffing levels in Dundee have risen from 100 to 150 employees.

The Mars rover has the capability to travel on the surface of Mars over three to 12 miles during its duration, which is expected to be at least one Mars year, which is 687 Earth days.

It will collect rock and soil samples that will hopefully be returned to Earth in later Mars missions.