Posted in | Nanooptics and Nanophotonics | Nanotechnology in Aerospace

Space Qualified Piezoelectric Transducers on the Mars Rover – Life on Mars?

Any instrument to survive the trip to and operating conditions on Mars needs to be designed to withstand the most adversary conditions. NASA’s Rover Curiosity has been analyzing mineral probes on the Red Planet for years to find out whether there once was life on Mars. A piezoelectric high performance and high precision shaking mechanism was designed to sort particles drilled from rock samples and aid the Robot’s chemical analysis. The piezoelectric actuators were run 100 Billion test cycles before the trip to make sure they were tough enough. More https://www.pi-usa.us/en/tech-blog/precision-motion-and-positioning-equipment-on-mars-rover-curiosity-still-going-strong/

PI’s ultra-reliable multi-layer piezo stack actuators were employed in the shaking mechanism and in addition a PI precision motion stage was used as a focusing motor for the laser. PI’s precision focusing stage was also employed again in following Mars expedition on the Perseverance Rover that landed in 2021 #Life_on_Mars.

More data on the ceramic encapsulated piezo actuators https://www.pi-usa.us/en/products/piezo-actuators-stacks-benders-tubes/p-882-p-888-picma-stack-multilayer-piezo-actuators-100810/

More on precision positioning stages https://www.pi-usa.us/en/products/positioning-stages-linear-rotary-motorized-precision/precision-motorized-linear-stages/

More on applications of focusing motors https://www.pi-usa.us/en/tech-blog/how-fast-nano-focusing-and-z-scanning-mechanisms-advance-life-sciences-biotech-laser-processing-and-semiconductors/

Run time: 2:04min

Piezoelectric Transducers on Mars Rover | Ultra-High Performance + Reliability | #Life_on_Mars | PI

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