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GIDDINGS AND NASA JOIN FORCES

Giddings Machine Company was blessed with the opportunity to work with NASA in designing a soil sampling machine to be used in the 2020 Mars mission. We were contacted by Senior project Engineer Joseph J. Kosmo of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.

He stated that he and his staff had researched all of the soil sampling equipment available and concluded that the Giddings design would best suit their needs. They purchased our #5-UV / MGSRPSUV model, which would be used as a test unit at sites in Arizona & Utah by the astronauts in their suits. This would help to determine a final design that NASA would build to take on the mission. He stated that on the moon they had only taken surface samples but with Mars they wanted to take 2 meter deep samples of the red planet.

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MARS 2020: About

Then in the November 2009 Issue, Astronomy Magazine did a feature article on the project.
Pictures below are from that article.
Later, the Science Channel did a feature episode on the project with the Giddings rig & NASA engineers out in the field at test sites in Arizona & Utah.

MARS 2020: Portfolio
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MARS 2020: Portfolio
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