The Economy

Ohio Manufacturers' High-Tech Contribution to Mars Curiosity

Aug. 21, 2012

Learn which Ohio manufacturers contributed to NASA's Mars Curiosity Success.

I didn't have to look far for U.S.-based manufacturers that contributed to NASA's Mars Curiosity, as I promised to do in an earlier column, Of Manufacturing and NASA's Mars Curiosity Mission.

Several are located in IndustryWeek's backyard, according to an article in the The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's local newspaper. John Colm, president & executive director of Cleveland, Ohio-based WIRE-Net, graciously provided a summary (and I added some additional links) as follows:

GrafTech International (IW500/497) made materials for the heat shield that protected the one-ton Curiosity from as much as 3,800-degree temperatures as it hurtled toward Mars's surface.

Cleveland's Eaton Corp. (IW500/73), Canton's Timken Co. (IW500/207), and Mayfield Heights' Materion (IW500/438) all made components for the Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) module, the 88-pound collection of devices that effectively is an automated chemistry lab that can break down rock samples for complex analysis.

According to the report, SAM's central carousel rests on Timken bearings. The carousel will rotate, allowing the collection of different material samples and different scientific instruments to be used.

Timken also supplied two miniature bearings, each about a quarter inch in diameter, in a vacuum pump the size of a flashlight battery. Several of the SAM's chemistry tests will need to take place in a vacuum.

Eaton supplied the SAM with specialty C-Seals, highly engineered devices that will keep helium from leaking out of Curiosity. The SAM uses helium in several of its tests.

Eaton makes C-Seals for several aerospace and industrial functions ranging from high-pressure water pumps to liquid nitrogen storage. The company said it altered those seals for NASA's use.

Also on the SAM are materials from advanced materials company Materion. The company's Barr Precision Optics & Thin Film Coatings provided films for use on several of the SAM's analyzers. The company formerly known as Brush Engineered Materials bought Barr in 2010.

In Southern Ohio, L-3 Cincinnati Electronics in Mason helped design and build the radios that Curiosity will use to transmit data it has collected back to Earth.

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Patricia Panchak Blog | Editor-in-Chief

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In her commentary and reporting for IndustryWeek, Editor-in-Chief Patricia Panchak covers world-class manufacturing industry strategies, best practices and public policy issues that affect manufacturers’ competitiveness. She delivers news and analysis—and reports the trends--in tax, trade and labor policy; federal, state and local government agencies and programs; and judicial, executive and legislative actions. As well, she shares case studies about how manufacturing executives can capitalize on the latest best practices to cut costs, boost productivity and increase profits.

As editor, she directs the strategic development of all IW editorial products, including the magazine, IndustryWeek.com, research and information products, and executive conferences.

An award-winning editor, Panchak received the 2004 Jesse H. Neal Business Journalism Award for Signed Commentary and helped her staff earn the 2004 Neal Award for Subject-Related Series. She also has earned the American Business Media’s Midwest Award for Editorial Courage and Integrity.

Patricia holds bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and English from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in Journalism from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She lives in Cleveland Hts., Ohio, with her family.