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NASA’s Curiosity Rover, GGB Bearings Mark Their First Martian-Year Anniversary
Company News Tuesday, May 5, 2015: GGB North America
On June 24, NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, which is fitted with metal-polymer bearings from GGB Bearing Technology, completed the first 687-day Martian year of its mission. It landed on the red planet on August 5, 2012.
Objective of the mission was to determine whether Mars was ever conducive to microbial life. This was confirmed shortly after the rover landed with the discovery of mudstone slabs that it sampled with its drill.
Curiosity has a robotic arm with a turret containing a drill that acquires samples by rotating and hammering with its weighted bit, which consists of a spindle, chuck, percussion mechanism and translation mechanism. Three GGB DU® bearing segments, specified on the basis of their high wear resistance and broad temperature range, serve as the primary suspension components for the drill spindle.
According to NASA, Curiosity this past spring drilled and collected sandstone samples that revealed the presence of minerals never before detected on Mars. Also exhibited were signs of complex geological processing and interaction with water. For more information contact marketing@ggbearings.com.
