FEATURE BEARINGS, SEALS & GASKETS
Collecting samples on Mars
Bearings from SKF have been specified for the Perseverance Mars Rover, where they are playing an integral role in the process of collecting rock and regolith samples
F
or decades, SKF has been supplying components to global space programmes,
dating right the way back to NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. “Our company’s bearings, seals and other products have helped enable a wide range of spacecraft and missions for more than 40 years,” explained John Schmidt, president, SKF USA, Inc. “Our parts have flown on the previous space missions, dozens of commercial and government satellites, space-borne telescopes, a wide range of rocket launch vehicles and in astronaut’s spacesuits. When conditions become critical and applications demanding, engineering knowledge is the only way to success.” In the most recent example, bearings
from the company have been built into the Perseverance Mars Rover. So, every time the Rover collects or handles rock and regolith samples in the Jezero Crater during its multiple-year mission on the surface of the red planet, key components from SKF will facilitate that those activities will successfully take place.
HARSH ENVIRONMENT DEMANDS Capable of withstanding the harsh environment on Mars are SKF’s Kaydon RealiSlim thin- section ball bearings, which are designed and manufactured at its global thin-section bearing engineering centre in Muskegon, and its recently expanded manufacturing hub in Sumter, USA. These highly engineered components contribute to the survival of the rover’s main robotic arm, sample collecting turret, tool bit carousel and sample handling assembly during a months-long
18 MAY 2021 | DESIGN SOLUTIONS
trip through space, and its function as intended on the Mars surface. The company also supplied critical bearings
for the mission’s launch vehicle which carried the rover and its lander into space. SKF bearings will play an integral role in
the vital process of sample collection on Mars. When the rover is ready to begin collecting samples, the robotic arm will manoeuvre into place and the tool bit carousel will whirr into action, deploying tools to drill or abrade material, which will then be collected by the sample collecting turret (aka ‘the hand’) and transferred to the sample handling assembly for processing onboard the rover, and eventually a potential return to Earth for analysis via a future Mars mission. “The bearings
we designed and built to help the rover perform its core science activities were based on several models of Kaydon thin-section ball bearings customised by our engineers to minimise weight and save space, while retaining maximum functionality and reliability for a mission where
/ DESIGNSOLUTIONS
repair or replacement is simply not an option,” said Isidoro Mazzitelli, director of product development and engineering Americas. Space applications must be a small fraction of the weight of standard bearing assemblies. Kaydon bearing solutions are often
customised from baseline models for specific customers and commonly used in applications that require a careful balance between strength, weight, size, functionality, and reliability – including robotic surgical equipment, automated precision manufacturing, detailed painting, aircraft systems, airport security scanners and medical CT imagers.
SKF
www.skf.com/uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
