Mount Vernon company goes to work for Mars mission

Joe Teehan

KGMINASA/JPL-CaltechThis image of the flight model of NASA's Mars Helicopter was taken on Feb. 14, 2019, in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The aluminum base plate, side posts, and crossbeam around the helicopter protect the helicopter's landing legs and the attachment points that will hold it to the belly of the Mars 2020 rover.

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — A Mount Vernon company has a hand in NASA’s 2021 mission to Mars.

Goodwinds Composites helped engineer and manufacture the wrapped carbon tubes for the landing gear of the first unmanned helicopter NASA plans to fly around the red planet.

Co-owner Amelia Cook told the Skagit Valley Herald NASA contacted them about a year ago to work on the project.

The rover holding the helicopter is scheduled to launch in July 2020, reaching Mars in 2021.

When @NASA flies its first Mars helicopter on the red planet in 2021, a #MountVernonWA company will share in that history: https://t.co/lNZXvxXobC #Skagit pic.twitter.com/Zu99RthI6C

— goskagit (@goskagit) July 3, 2019