Upon landing, the Perseverance Mars Rover’s mission is to investigate relevant ancient information on the surface of the planet and to assess past habitability and the possibility of past life.
Advanex worked closely with COMAT Aerospace to provide the inserts to secure the SuperCam laser imaging system. About 50 of its wire thread inserts used in each instrument in sizes ranging from M2.5 to M4 for three test instruments, and of course, the unit in use.
One of the primary benefits of using Tangless inserts over the traditional Tanged variation is that it prevents the need to remove the tang from the high-spec casting of the SuperCam, so reduces the risk of damaging the component.
The lightweight nature of the inserts plus the reduction in installation time compared to their Tanged counterparts has benefitted the mission, Advanex said.
COMAT AIT manager Marius Ferry said: "The complexity of the parts that COMAT manufactures and the requirements of the space industry no longer allow standard thread inserts.”
