A little piece of Devon now on Mars

Spaceship on planet thanks to Tiverton technology

Devon's flag is metaphorically planted on planet Mars after Nasa's Perseverance rover touched down on Thursday evening.

The fabric for the parachute that took the vehicle from the main spaceship to Mars was developed and manufactured in Tiverton.

The rover landed at 8.56 p.m. GMT, causing much pleasure around the world, and especially at Heathcote Fabrics.

The mission, backed by the UK government, is set to bring Martian rock back to earth.

It's not the firm's first adventure in space. They've been to Mars before with Beagle 2, have landed on Saturn's moon, Titan, and been on the International Space Station, from which their fabrics have helped space capsules come back to our home planet.

Peter Hill, a director at Heathcoat Fabrics, told a national newspaper the most nervous part of the mission will be waiting to “seven long minutes of terror” as Perseverance makes its final descent into Mars’ atmosphere.

“At that point, there’s a total blackout and you don’t know what’s going to happen until the rover lands,” he said. “So, as it passes through the atmosphere of Mars and the parachute opens, we don’t really know what’s going on until it’s safely landing and is operating.”

Is there life on Mars? @picanolgroup share how Heathcoat Fabrics are using their latest generation weaving technology in helping Nasa find out! https://t.co/GBLJ07n0kh #mars2020 pic.twitter.com/tMwMTfFo9g

— Heathcoat Fabrics (@Heathcoatfabric) January 14, 2021