Ball Bearings in the Space Industry
Space exploration, the space shuttle, rockets, and satellites have captured the imaginations of people all around the world. These things help the millions of miles between Earth and outer space seem like less of a gulf, and make the concept of being able to investigate even further seem achievable. That said, not many people really grasp the sort of conditions that objects heading into and returning from space have to go through, and all of the punishment that their parts end up taking. Ball bearings are used to deal with friction for these machines, just like they are on Earth, but they need to be incredibly high-performance bearings to stand up to what space dishes out.
Things like the space shuttle and satellites have a lot of moving parts. Not only do they have all of their internal components that help get them into space, they also have moving parts that help them place themselves. All of this motion creates friction between moving parts, but lubricants can’t really be employed to handle that kind of issue. The extreme heat from entering and exiting the atmosphere would liquefy standard lubricants, and the intense stress and vibrations would cause the wrong type of bearings to lose their shape and fail to work. Satellites and shuttles are also gone for long periods of time, so their mechanical parts must be ready to go for extended stretches of time with minimal maintenance. Therefore, ball bearings chosen for the space industry have to fit various very stringent criteria.
Because of the stringency that has to govern making these ball bearings, manufacturers have certain approved companies and bearing distributors that they go to when they need to buy bearings for critical projects like this. Timken bearings have a long history and good reputation in the industry, and have developed ball bearings for the space shuttle’s landing gear, among other critical components. SKF bearings are involved in the manufacture and launch of the spacecraft used in the Ariane project, a program that delivers satellites to outer space. These companies produce extremely high quality bearings that are able to handle all of the stresses that spaceflight provides.
Though launches don’t happen that frequently, they are a big deal when they do. The right bearings could mean the difference between a successful launch and return, or a disaster, so choosing the best ball bearings for the job is of extreme importance.
