- Canal Fulton native Tim Schlernitzauer was a part of the Timken Co. workforce that designed the touchdown gear for the Mars rover Curiosity.
- Curiosity’s mission was to analyze whether or not Mars ever had the environmental situations to assist life.
CANAL FULTON – Tim Schlernitzauer’s journey to Mars began on the Canal Fulton Public Library.
As a teen, the Northwest Excessive College scholar would immerse himself within the library’s Time-Life science collection.
And as a toddler rising up in the course of the Area Race, Schlernitzauer was drawn to outer area, coveting the Saturn V rocket mannequin and “My Favourite Martian” and “Misplaced in Area.”
“It was a relentless backdrop to our life,” mentioned Schlernitzauer, who now lives in Perry Township. “… It had an actual influence on me.”
Schlernitzauer was a part of the Timken Co. workforce that designed the touchdown gear for the Mars Curiosity rover, which continues to analyze whether or not Mars ever had the environmental situations to assist life.
He shared the experiences that led him from Canal Fulton to be concerned with a Mars rover throughout a program Saturday on the Canal Fulton Public Library.
Listed below are 5 highlights:
1. Schlernitzauer’s first contribution to area got here within the Eighties whereas in Alliance
Schlernitzauer began working as a machine designer at Alliance Machine Co. (now Morgan Engineering) in 1980 and have become the lead mechanical designer of the corporate’s ultra-heaving industrial cranes and different mechanical parts.
In 1984, the corporate designed, constructed and delivered an overhead crane for the Area Shuttle Meeting Constructing at Vandenberg Air Power Base in California. The crane was to assist raise an area shuttle to a vertical place so it might be paired with rocket boosters.
Schlernitzauer believes the crane nonetheless is on the base right now.
2. Schlernitzauer wanted a particular bearings design for Curiosity
As a product designer for the Timken Co., Schlernitzauer helped to design the bearings system that was used to land the Mars rover Curiosity.
Curiosity, launched in November 2011 and landed in August 2012, was lowered to the Mars floor by a sky crane. Schlernitzauer’s bearings had been a part of the crane’s descent brake system that used a tether to decrease the car-sized rover roughly 65 toes to the floor.
“To decrease it was like utilizing a winch, solely in reverse,” Schlernitzauer defined. “So, it’s a giant brake.”
Schlernitzauer mentioned the bearings for Curiosity needed to be designed to be extra power-dense than common ball bearings, which Timken had utilized in earlier Mars rovers. One purpose for the smaller bearings that might deal with extra power was that Curiosity was 10 instances heavier than earlier fashions, he mentioned.
Curiosity, which nonetheless roams Mars right now, additionally makes use of Timken bearings within the middle hub of its carousel system and to run its vacuum pump, which helps the rover’s analytical gear, in response to the Timken Co.
3. Designing bearings for area got here with challenges
Schlernitzauer recalled receiving the specs for the Curiosity touchdown gear that mentioned the bearings wanted to outlive in temperatures as much as 200 levels and within the extreme vacuum of area, which might trigger some supplies to emit gases that may be detrimental in the event that they work together with one other materials.
“I believed, ‘Wow, what did I get myself into,’” Schlernitzauer recalled.
He mentioned NASA initially specified to make use of a kind of fabric, which he likened to wooden, for the bearing’s casing. He knew it could be too fragile to make use of, however his boss insisted he attempt it.
When the fabric failed, Schlernitzauer mentioned the bearing was designed with a metal casing. It additionally had a self-lubricating coating to stop metal-to-metal contact.
4. He regrets not going to observe the Curiosity’s launch.
When Curiosity launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Schlernitzauer was in Stark County to have fun Thanksgiving with household. He was given a hyperlink to the management tower to observe it reside on-line. If he may do it over once more, Schlernitzauer would go to the launch, he mentioned.
“However an important factor for me is that it went up and landed,” mentioned Schlernitzauer, who left Timken in 2009 as a part of the corporate’s mass layoff of employees. “That proven fact that one thing I made was up there. It’s actually arduous to grasp.”
5. Schlernitzauer isn’t Canal Fulton’s solely Mars connection
The main character within the Sixties tv collection, “My Favourite Martian,” established Canal Fulton’s first connection to Mars when he instructed his girlfriend that he was born in Canal Fulton.
“Canal Fulton, Ohio? Why didn’t you say so within the first place?” the girlfriend responds within the collection a few Martian residing on Earth till his spaceship is repaired. “I performed there for 16 weeks as soon as. It’s a beautiful city.”
The Martian then corrects her, “… Canal Fulton, Mars.”
Attain Canton Repository author Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
