Castrol on Mars
Our Castrol Braycote greases and Brayco oils are helping NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover explore Mars, lubricating vital mechanisms and components.
In February 2021, after a seven-month journey from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Florida, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover successfully landed at Jezero Crater on Mars.
Equipped with precision instruments, Mars Perseverance must be able to operate in Mars’ extreme environment, a planet where in summer it is 20°C at the equator and -153°C at the poles.
The Perseverance mission isn’t our first time on Mars; the NASA Curiosity Rover is also lubricated by Castrol. It landed on Mars in 2012 and is still up there, performing many years later.
Castrol’s specially developed Braycote greases and Brayco oils are vital in helping the Rover’s precision mechanisms operate in Mars’ extreme environment.
Our innovative technology helps the mechanisms on Perseverance to perform to the high level needed whilst roaming the vast surface of Mars. The unique properties of Castrol Braycote greases and Brayco oils mean they don’t produce any by-products, even under intense pressure. As a result, there are no emissions, which could potentially condense in the rover and risk causing mechanical failure.
Failure is not an option
When you’re sending machinery into space, if it has moving parts, it needs lubrication. And when it’s a mission to Mars you don’t get a second chance. If anything goes wrong, it could jeopardise a mission that is years in the making, costing many millions of dollars.
Castrol on Mars
Much of what we do in space is similar to what we do here on Earth.
Did you know?
It takes seven months to reach Mars, which is a staggering 300 million miles or 480 million kilometres away from Earth – that’s like going to the Moon and back 625 times.
Source: jpl.nasa.gov
Temperatures on Mars are brutal and extreme, fluctuating between -140°C at the poles in winter to 21°C at the equator in summer.
Source: NASA
For humans, the surface of Mars is an inhospitable place, with high levels of radiation, huge dust storms and a thin atmosphere with only 0.13% oxygen.
Source: Space.com
Scientists know there is ice on Mars at the poles and other frigid locations, but are yet to determine whether there is enough meltwater in the summer to support microbial life.
Source: NASA
Explore more Perseverance Rover mechanisms below that use Castrol Braycote and Brayco.
The Perseverance Rover is equipped with state-of-the-art scientific instruments and tools that have been meticulously designed to gather information about the biology, atmosphere and environmental conditions on Mars.
These include 19 cameras that will deliver images of the landscape in breath-taking detail and are lubricated with Castrol Braycote greases and Brayco oils, so that they can perform in these most inhospitable of environments.
Castrol on Mars podcast series
What are the most extreme and remote environments on our own planet?
We’ve spoken to some truly inspirational people who push themselves to their mental and physical limits, working with technologies on land sea and air. Places with machines that need similar Castrol products to those needed on Mars. In this podcast series, these people help transport us to their worlds - from the darkest depths of the sea, to the middle of the desert - and beyond our stratosphere.
Thanks to all who contributed, and we hope you enjoy listening.
