Kollmorgen, a developer of advanced motion systems for UAVs and robotics, provides a detailed overview of how its precision motors are developed to perform in extreme environments, from deep space exploration to critical applications on Earth. Read more >>
While most motors operate in everyday conditions where downtime is inconvenient but recoverable, specialized missions require systems that can survive extreme environments where failure is not an option.
In space, for example, engineers must address challenges such as heat dissipation in vacuum, operation at near-absolute-zero temperatures, prevention of vacuum-accelerated outgassing, and resistance to intense radiation.
Kollmorgen has supplied motors for NASA programs since the Gemini missions of the 1960s, continuing through Apollo, Skylab, GPS satellites, Titan rockets, and the Space Shuttle. The company’s motors have also been used in Mars exploration programs including Viking 1, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance, which continues its mission to explore the red planet for at least one Martian year.
On Perseverance, Kollmorgen contributed a co-engineered RBE Series direct drive frameless motor, powering the rover’s thermal-management pump to cool electronics and instruments onboard. This motor was described by NASA engineers as “the heart of the system.”
RBE Series Frameless Motors.
RBE Series motors are well suited for this application. The frameless configuration integrates directly into the system and uses the same bearings to support load and rotor, reducing volume, weight, and complexity.
The motor design also incorporates materials capable of withstanding the rigors of space, along with a special modification, enabling a unique liquid cooling system for reliable long-term performance under extreme conditions.
Kollmorgen collaborated with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to optimize the RBE motor for the Europa Clipper Orbiter, which launched in 2024, and is expected to arrive in Jupiter’s orbit in 2030. The motor will reliably control the pump on the Orbiter’s critical thermal-management system throughout its planned 12-year mission to explore Europa and other Jovian moons.
Beyond space, Kollmorgen motion systems are widely deployed in critical applications across multiple industries. Its motion systems support commercial and defense aviation, withstand washdowns in food and beverage production, enable advanced medical technologies, operate in oil and gas extraction, assist in nuclear power plant safety, and power underwater vehicles such as those used to explore the Titanic wreck.
Kollmorgen continues to provide motion solutions for specialized applications where reliability is essential, offering co-engineering expertise and a broad product range to meet the demands of extreme environments.
