Textiles are not commodity items anymore. Technical textile is a textile product manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, where the function is the primary criterion. Recently, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, which was used on Mission Mars, was fabricated using technical textiles for its low weight and other properties.
TeXtreme materials, produced by Oxeon of Boras, Sweden, were used in the propeller blades, the solar panel substrate, and parts of the helicopter’s exterior and were chosen by the engineering team at NASA/JPL/AeroVironment due to their ultralightweight and thinness.
TeXtreme spread tow carbon fabrics, and UD tapes were extensively employed in its construction. On April 30th, the helicopter carried out its fourth flight on Mars and has had its mission extended for a month. Ingenuity will now travel alongside Perseverance, capturing aerial images that could help identify potential routes and scientifically exciting areas.
Henrik Blycker, co-founder and CEO of Oxeon, said, “We were honored when TeXtreme was selected for the Mars helicopter, and it has been very encouraging to follow its development over the years. Seeing the live broadcast of the flight team at NASA when the data from the very first flight was down-linked was a truly historic moment in our company history.”
The unique fiber architecture of TeXtreme not only provides better options for weight savings and laminate thickness optimization that is often desired in propeller blades and other UAV applications and plays a significant role in suppressing microcracking and subsequent composite failure.
