Published
by Rogers Corporation
Advanced Electronics Solutions
In January of 2004, the Mars Opportunity Rover began its mission in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars after a 7 month long journey from its launch in Florida. Originally intended to collect data for 90 days and travel only 1000 meters, Opportunity persevered, completing its mission 15 years and 45 kilometers later. The Opportunity overcame obstacles and collected data for nearly 60 times the original length of time planned, pioneering Mars exploration and providing immense scientific value.
Conversely, the Beresheet SpaceIL Lunar Lander is at the beginning of its voyage. As the first privately owned mission to the moon, this ambitious effort launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket is expected to land in April. Once on the moon, the Beresheet is expected to function for 3 days before the solar panels overheat, providing a narrow window for data collection and transmission.
The enduring trek of The Mars Rover That Could and the uncertain future of The Adventures of Beresheet are both inspiring feats of space engineering. In these types of applications, mission-critical dependability is key. Design engineers need to know that their spacecraft is going to perform as intended. At Rogers, we are proud to provide high reliability materials that ensure successful missions. For over 40 years, our advanced circuit materials have been in nearly every US space mission.
High-frequency specialty laminates enable radars and antennas on space rockets, probes, landers and rovers. These radars and antennas serve important functions like communicating maneuver commands with the vehicle and transmitting collected data. When these materials function properly and reliably, they collect data beyond expectations. For example, the Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, were designed to conduct studies of Jupiter and Saturn. Now, they have traveled outside of the solar system and still transmit information to this day.
Sending something into orbit, space exploration or to land on a planet or moon is a project of great magnitude both in preparation and cost. There is no room for error as repairs are either costly or impossible. Rogers’ Advanced Connectivity Solutions proudly enables these pioneering journeys as we explore the final frontier with mission-critical reliability. Because, when it comes to these missions, we have a Yoda mentality: “Do or do not, there is no try.”
Tags:
Aerospace & Defense, Commercial Radar
Published on Feb 26, 2019
