She also plans to check out part of the Orion vehicle that will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before during her visit on Monday at Lockheed Martin.

The new satellite will explore how the sun may have stripped Mars of most of its atmosphere.

Orion is newest human spacecraft that will be flexible enough to take NASA astronauts to a variety of destinations, including Mars.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)