Special Thin Film Tape Formulated For NASA Protects Wiring In Mars Rover
DUNMORE Corporation’s high-performance thin film products will help explore the surface of Mars as part of the Mars Science Laboratory program, which is trying to determine whether the red planet’s environment ever sustained microbial life comparable to what is found on Earth, or perhaps still is.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory used a special reinforced tape DUNMORE created to insulate all of the wiring inside the Mars Rover. The insulating tape ensures the electrical currents from the rover’s different systems don’t interfere with each other and impede the rover’s operation. DUNMORE created the tape by combining Dupont Kapton polyimide film with a 3M adhesive and fiberglass reinforcement layer. The DUNMORE tape is the only MLI (multi-layer insulation) product on the Mars Rover. The rocket carrying the rover to Mars is scheduled to launch Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida.
This Mars exploration program will employ a different landing method for a larger rover than the previous program. Instead of landing on the surface, the delivery vehicle will use retro rockets to hover over the landing site, and then lower the rover to the surface with a sky crane.
“There are innumerable technical challenges with a program that incorporates so many technical innovations to land a larger, heavier rover on Mars’ surface,” said DUNMORE Vice President John Jordan. “We’re glad to be able to provide NASA with a proven product so they could focus their time and resources developing new technology they’d need to make the mission a success.”
DUNMORE tapes and insulation blankets have been used in almost every major space program of the last 20 years, including the Space Shuttle program, Hubble Telescope, International Space Station, and NASA’s Juno and Aquarius exploratory probes. With increasing demand from the public and private organizations launching satellites into orbit, DUNMORE expects steady growth in space program opportunities, such as supplying MLI to the next-generation GPS III program, which will encompass a minimum of 30 new satellites.
About DUNMORE
DUNMORE Corporation is a global supplier of engineered coated and laminated films. DUNMORE offers film conversion services such as coating, metallizing and laminating along with contract film manufacturing. DUNMORE produces coated film, metallized film and laminating film substrates for the photovoltaic, graphic arts, packaging, aerospace, insulation, surfacing and fashion industries. DUNMORE is privately held, ISO 9001:2008 and OSHA VPP Star certified. For complete information on DUNMORE’s products, services and industries served, please visit DUNMORE’s website http://www.dunmore.com/.
