NASA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Motion Control Systems Integration and Test Engineer
Co-op Spring 2017
Pasadena, CA
Co-op Spring 2017
Pasadena, CA
The Mars2020 rover uses a series of Maxon Brushless DC motors and planetary gearboxes to power the movement of everything from its rugged wheels to its coring drill. These rugged, lightweight high quality motors are designed to run at high performance and high efficiency for a long life in extreme environments. To ensure that each of the motors stays at peak performance throughout its multi-year mission on the red planet, each prototype and flight motor must undergo a series of characterization tests. With the MCS I&T test set-up, there is an efficient and reliable way to capture high quality data to characterize a motor's performance at extreme temperatures through startup sensitivity tests, no load tests, load curve tests and torque ripple tests.
In addition to the standard set of tests, there is also the occasional need to perform secondary tests on a batch of motors to target specific areas of concern. This could include temperature and load varying life cycle testing, subcomponent based structural testing, and vibration testing. |