The Mars Rover (Curiosity) project team at Materion Barr
Precision Optics & Thin Film Coatings’ Westford, Massachusetts facility,
has been nominated for the NASA Group Achievement Award. This
prestigious NASA honor is awarded to any combination of government
and/or non-government individuals for an outstanding group
accomplishment that has contributed substantially to NASA’s mission.
Curiosity is a key part of the Mars Space Lab mission launched in
November 2011. Materion’s assignment involved building a set of filters
for the MASTCAM camera aboard the craft. These are extremely high
performing, low defect state-of-the-art filters used to enhance the
camera’s imaging capabilities. The camera was produced by Malin Space
Science Systems (MSSS) with which Materion has a long-standing
relationship.
The work team, all members of the Space, Science & Astronomy unit of the
Westford Operations Group, was led by Dave Harrison, Program Manager,
and consisted of: John Potter, Senior Design Engineer; Jim Gaillardetz,
Senior Technician; Paul McTeague, Engineering Technician; Kevin Downing,
Product Line Manager; David Green, Applications Engineer and Evelyn
Stull, Applications Engineering Manager.
With its heritage as a world leader in thin film optics, Materion has
provided custom filters and arrays for many previous Mars missions.
These include Mars Observer (1992), Mars Global Surveyor (1996), Mars
Pathfinder and Sojourner (1996), Mars Climate Orbiter (1998), Mars Polar
Lander (1999), Mars Odyssey (2001), Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and
Opportunity (2003) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005). Other
Materion businesses, including Materion Brush Beryllium & Composites,
have supplied materials for earlier NASA Mars missions.
Commenting about the nomination, Robert Naranjo, Strategic Business Unit
Vice President, Materion Barr Precision Optics & Thin Film Coatings,
said, “We are pleased by this honor and proud of the dedicated
Materion employees that earned it. We understand that NASA selects teams
that effectively manage costs and schedules and achieve a high level of
customer satisfaction. This nomination reflects highly on the quality of
the participants, their work and the company as a whole.”
For more information on Curiosity, click on NASA
Mars Science Laboratory.
Materion Barr Precision Optics & Thin Film Coatings is a business of
Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN). Headquartered in Mayfield Heights,
Ohio, Materion Corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiaries,
supplies highly engineered advanced enabling materials to global
markets. Products include precious and non-precious specialty metals,
inorganic chemicals and powders, specialty coatings, specialty
engineered beryllium alloys, beryllium and beryllium composites, and
engineered clad and plated metal systems.
