Faulhaber motors
From the moon landing to everyday life in space
50 years ago, precision ball bearings from Faulhaber subsidiary MPS were in the astronauts' watches when they took their first step on the moon. A lot has happened since then.
It is now fifty years since Apollo 11 landed on the moon and the first human set foot on the Earth's satellite. In the meantime, space has become a workplace and living space for humans and topics such as space tourism, a permanent moon station or a manned mission to Mars are topical. The technical progress of recent decades has made this development possible and drive technology has also contributed to it. Lightweight and compact Faulhaber miniature drives have proven their reliability and positioning accuracy time and again in many space and research projects under harsh space conditions. The actuators are vacuum-compatible and can withstand mechanical loads. Their components are matched to each other and thus achieve a high level of efficiency.
For example, six stepper motors with planetary gears are currently in use on Mars in the most sensitive seismometer ever built (SEIS), trying to find out whether the red planet is shaking. They have two tasks in the seismological measurements: They bring the measuring mechanism into balance and compensate for stress forces that arise due to strong seasonal temperature fluctuations.
The small drives from Schönaich can also be found on board the International Space Station (ISS). Brushless DC motors allow Cimon, an artificial assistant for astronauts, to move freely on board.
Stepper motors will be installed in high-resolution camera systems for the next Mars mission in 2020. The small drives with a diameter of just ten millimetres position the lenses for razor-sharp images of the surface of Mars. The compact miniature drives will continue to contribute to the further development of space research and space travel in the future.
One way to keep the costs of commercial rocket launches within limits is to optimize fuel combustion and thus consumption. A specially developed fuel trim valve guarantees optimum performance. It is driven by Faulhaber servomotors. The demand for space-qualified drive systems, which above all have to be reliable, durable, small and light, is therefore constantly increasing. as
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