Seattle-Based First Mode Teams With NASA to Design Next-Gen Rover for a New Lunar Mission

In a related development, earlier this month First Mode and Western Washington University announced they had secured a contract from NASA to develop geological-research technology that will help advance scientific understanding of Mars surface and its history as NASA prepares for its Mars 2020 Rover mission.

The automated technology being developed as part of that contract, called a goniometer, will make possible extremely accurate 3D measurements of rock samples at different angles. The work is being funded by NASA’s Planetary Science Division and the resulting technology, including the goniometer design and software, will be released publicly.