Greater Victoriasa国际传媒檚 Kennametal Inc. facility is used to making custom products for industry spanning every corner of the globe.

However, itsa国际传媒檚 the piece the plant made for a jobsite thatsa国际传媒檚 currently over 200 million kilometres away thatsa国际传媒檚 bringing the company an out-of-this-world amount of pride.

The site made a tungsten carbide tooth blank thatsa国际传媒檚 currently mounted to a core drill on NASAsa国际传媒檚 Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars last month. The blank is involved in one of the six-wheeled roversa国际传媒檚 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.

sa国际传媒淭he team is just super enthusiastic and super excited,sa国际传媒� said Ron Sivorot, business director at the Kennametal site in the Greater Victoria suburb of Langford. sa国际传媒淗aving it in use millions of miles away is actually pretty crazy.sa国际传媒�

But even though theysa国际传媒檙e making a component used in space exploration, nothing really changed at the Langford site. Had nobody told the plantsa国际传媒檚 employees about the companysa国际传媒檚 involvement in the mission, they mightsa国际传媒檝e never known.

sa国际传媒淭he team on the shop floor didnsa国际传媒檛 even really know that there was anything going on, that it was anything different from anything else they make,sa国际传媒� Sivorot said. sa国际传媒淲e make millions of pieces of carbide a year and to have these ones go to Mars, itsa国际传媒檚 obviously, definitely the farthest wesa国际传媒檝e gone.sa国际传媒�

Excitement started to grow in 2018 after Kennametal found out the blanks sa国际传媒攚hich the Langford site has been supplying to NASAsa国际传媒檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2014 sa国际传媒攚ould be aboard the interplanetary mission.

sa国际传媒淚t just kind of fit right into our work flow, so to be honest, we didnsa国际传媒檛 go above and beyond, this is basically the service wesa国际传媒檙e used to giving anyway, it just fit to serve NASA and JPL,sa国际传媒� Sivorot said.

The Langford site employees watched from their work computers as the rover touched down on the red planet. Images of NASAsa国际传媒檚 control room engineers erupting with elation upon the six-wheeled roversa国际传媒檚 interstellar landing matched the scene at the local Kennametal site. Sivorot said some of the plantsa国际传媒檚 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 thatsa国际传媒檚 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.

sa国际传媒淲e have a variety of other customers that use it in similar applications, other than being on another planet,sa国际传媒� Sivorot said. sa国际传媒淲e have a lot of confidence in this grade. Itsa国际传媒檚 a very tough grade, fracture resistant, wear resistant, itsa国际传媒檚 an ideal grade for this solution, so wesa国际传媒檙e confident that itsa国际传媒檒l do what it needs to do on Mars.sa国际传媒�

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 summersa国际传媒檚 launch.

sa国际传媒淲hich is super wild,sa国际传媒� Sivorot said, sa国际传媒渋tsa国际传媒檚 actually one of those fun stories you go home and tell your kids about.sa国际传媒�

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