Smiths Specialty Engineering to provide technology for NASAs Mars Science Laboratory rover

SMITHS Specialty Engineering, part of the global technology business Smiths Group, today announces that one of its businesses has been selected by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide technology for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, which is due to be launched in 2009.

Mars Science Laboratory is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term robotic exploration of the red planet. Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life. Its mission is to determine the planet’s “habitability”. This mission rover is twice as large and three times heavier than the previous Mars exploration class rovers. 

EMC Technology has been selected to provide the high reliability attenuators for the rover. EMC’s high reliability products have flown successfully on all of the Mars rover projects going back to Sojourner in 1997 and have exceeded the life expectancy for all the projects. Attenuators limit the amount of power allowed to pass through a micro circuit.

The high reliability attenuator products are modified versions of the HR93 T3S series devices which are used in a number of space exploration vehicles including Galileo, NPOESS, Mars Observer and Deep Space Probe. 

ENDS

EMC Technology
EMC Technology is a Smiths Interconnect business. Smiths Interconnect is part of the global technology business Smiths Group. EMC Technology provides custom-engineered solutions and a full line of surface mount terminations, attenuators, equalizers and other passive resistive components.  EMC Technology developed the ThermopadÒ temperature compensating attenuator, a passive component solution to temperature compensation problems, and the Smart LoadÒ temperature compensated true RMS power sensing termination.  These products are protected by two of the 27 U.S. patents awarded to EMC.  Since its founding in 1963, EMC Technology has established itself as the technology leader in supplying engineering-based solutions in RF and microwave passive components. Our website, www.emct.com  contains additional information about lot screening, environmental testing, and a full test flow plan and description of all of our high reliability military and space approved products.