In just two months NASA is going back to Mars. The agency’s MAVEN orbiter, set to launch November 18, will circle the red planet, studying Mars’ incredibly thin atmosphere and trying to figure out how it interacts with the solar wind. But before MAVEN can be launched from Cape Canaveral, it had to be put together, by hand, piece by piece.

Lockheed Martin, the company that built MAVEN, recorded this time lapse of the satellite’s construction, showing you just how much work goes into assembling one of these things.

h/t Emily Lakdawalla

More from Smithsonian.com:

This Is What a Watery Mars May Have Looked Like
Curiosity Nails It: Mars Used to Have Flowing Water

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Watch NASA’s Next Mars Lander Be Put Together, Piece by Piece

In just two months NASA is going back to Mars. The agency’s MAVEN orbiter, set to launch November 18, will circle the red planet, studying Mars’ incredibly thin atmosphere and trying to figure out how it interacts with the solar wind. But before MAVEN can be launched from Cape Canaveral, it had to be put together, by hand, piece by piece.

Lockheed Martin, the company that built MAVEN, recorded this time lapse of the satellite’s construction, showing you just how much work goes into assembling one of these things.

h/t Emily Lakdawalla

More from Smithsonian.com:

This Is What a Watery Mars May Have Looked Like
Curiosity Nails It: Mars Used to Have Flowing Water

Read the article:

Watch NASA’s Next Mars Orbiter Be Put Together, Piece by Piece