Flying to Mars and navigating a martian environment is not easy. Successful space missions rely on every component executing numerous mission-critical tasks while concurrently withstanding the harshest of conditions. With the highest priority placed on drives, designing space-ready motors is a meticulous and complex process. Engineers need to account for extreme temperature fluctuations that persist for days at a time while operating during drastic changes in atmospheric conditions where rotor blades cut through significantly fewer air molecules than in Earth's atmosphere, simply to maintain flight.
With more than 100 motors on Mars currently and decades of successful missions under their belt, industry leader maxon has broad expertise in space applications and sets the industry standard for quality assurance processes. Most recently, NASA launched the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which successfully took flight on April 16, hosting six specialized brushed DC motors from maxon.