Third Century Countdown: DuPont Materials Used on Mission to Mars

July 10, 2001 -- DuPont will be 200 years old on July 19, 2002. To celebrate, we are counting down to our third century with a series of articles spotlighting interesting facts about DuPont products, services, values and milestones.

For example, did you know...

A number of DuPont products were along for the ride when NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission landed on the Red Planet in 1997. For example, the solar array that powered the Sojourner microrover (pictured) - a small, wheeled robotic vehicle -- rested on a strong, lightweight honeycomb substrate of flame-resistant DuPont™ Nomex® brand fiber. The array was a flat panel mounted on Sojourner's back. Most of the power to run Sojourner's equipment - which was used to perform experiments and send photos back to Earth - was provided by the array, which was made up of more than 200 photovoltaic solar cells.

Other DuPont materials that helped make the mission possible included Kevlar® aramid fiber, Freon® R-11 refrigerant, Dacron® polyester, Kapton® polyimide film, Vespel® polyimide parts, Mylar® polyester film, and Pyralux® flexible circuit materials.