Israeli Refrigerator Part of Equipment on Mars Curiosity Rover
The Curiosity rover, currently on Mars after recently
landing in a tricky operation controlled by National Space and Aeronautics
Administration (NASA) technicians, includes a refrigerator manufactured in
Israel. The refrigerator was developed in the northern Israeli kibbutz Ein
Harod (Ihud), Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
There are two companies in that area specializing in
cryogenic coolers, small refrigerators that can reach very low temperatures and
are used for military, space and commercial applications. An American buyer
approached one of the companies, Ricor Cryogenic, in 2005, asking to purchase a
few such cryocoolers for a NASA research project on Mars.
“When it was announced that the Curiosity had landed on
Mars, we contacted the buyer, who confirmed that the Israeli cooler was indeed
on Mars. Everyone in the factory was excited. Our 170 employees were all very
proud,” Ricor’s marketing manager Yoav Zur said.
Zur said a detector on board the Curiosity “identifies
Mars materials” and must be kept at 173 degrees below 0 Celsius. “Our cooler
keeps it at that temperature,” Zur said. “Without our cooler, it would be
impossible to determine the type of materials examined on Mars.”
Comments
Post a Comment