Greater Victoria含羞草研究社檚 Kennametal Inc. facility is used to making custom products for industry spanning every corner of the globe.

However, it含羞草研究社檚 the piece the plant made for a jobsite that含羞草研究社檚 currently over 200 million kilometres away that含羞草研究社檚 bringing the company an out-of-this-world amount of pride.

The site made a tungsten carbide tooth blank that含羞草研究社檚 currently mounted to a core drill on NASA含羞草研究社檚 Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars last month. The blank is involved in one of the six-wheeled rover含羞草研究社檚 key tasks; cutting chalk-sized, intact rock cores that will hopefully be sent back to Earth and give a greater understanding into ancient microbial life on Mars.

含羞草研究社淭he team is just super enthusiastic and super excited,含羞草研究社� said Ron Sivorot, business director at the Kennametal site in the Greater Victoria suburb of Langford. 含羞草研究社淗aving it in use millions of miles away is actually pretty crazy.含羞草研究社�

But even though they含羞草研究社檙e making a component used in space exploration, nothing really changed at the Langford site. Had nobody told the plant含羞草研究社檚 employees about the company含羞草研究社檚 involvement in the mission, they might含羞草研究社檝e never known.

含羞草研究社淭he team on the shop floor didn含羞草研究社檛 even really know that there was anything going on, that it was anything different from anything else they make,含羞草研究社� Sivorot said. 含羞草研究社淲e make millions of pieces of carbide a year and to have these ones go to Mars, it含羞草研究社檚 obviously, definitely the farthest we含羞草研究社檝e gone.含羞草研究社�

Excitement started to grow in 2018 after Kennametal found out the blanks 含羞草研究社攚hich the Langford site has been supplying to NASA含羞草研究社檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2014 含羞草研究社攚ould be aboard the interplanetary mission.

含羞草研究社淚t just kind of fit right into our work flow, so to be honest, we didn含羞草研究社檛 go above and beyond, this is basically the service we含羞草研究社檙e used to giving anyway, it just fit to serve NASA and JPL,含羞草研究社� Sivorot said.

The Langford site employees watched from their work computers as the rover touched down on the red planet. Images of NASA含羞草研究社檚 control room engineers erupting with elation upon the six-wheeled rover含羞草研究社檚 interstellar landing matched the scene at the local Kennametal site. Sivorot said some of the plant含羞草研究社檚 space-loving employees were caught geeking out with celebratory air punches as they watched the landing back here on Earth.

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The k92-grade tooth blank Kennametal makes for NASA looks like a small metal cube that含羞草研究社檚 smaller than a fingernail. To make the blank, Kennametal reforms powdered tungsten carbide by pressing, shaping and centring it and giving the piece a semi-finished grind. Once NASA gets the blank, they finish grinding the piece to their specific and high-tech requirements.

The k92-grade tooth blank is also used in industries like construction, oil and gas, agriculture and forestry. The Kennametal director said tungsten carbide is used because its strength and durability can perform in hostile scenarios.

含羞草研究社淲e have a variety of other customers that use it in similar applications, other than being on another planet,含羞草研究社� Sivorot said. 含羞草研究社淲e have a lot of confidence in this grade. It含羞草研究社檚 a very tough grade, fracture resistant, wear resistant, it含羞草研究社檚 an ideal grade for this solution, so we含羞草研究社檙e confident that it含羞草研究社檒l do what it needs to do on Mars.含羞草研究社�

NASA says Mars was 205 million kilometres form Earth when Perseverance landed, but the rover equipped with the Kennametal product travelled 471 million kilometres in total since last summer含羞草研究社檚 launch.

含羞草研究社淲hich is super wild,含羞草研究社� Sivorot said, 含羞草研究社渋t含羞草研究社檚 actually one of those fun stories you go home and tell your kids about.含羞草研究社�

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