NASA’s Curiosity rover, roaming around Mars taking pictures as we speak, is using a refrigerator developed and manufactured in kibbutz Ein Harod (Ihud), in northern Israel, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Ein Harod (Ihud)’s Ricor Cryogenic and Vacuum Systems specializes in cryogenic coolers, which are miniature refrigerators designed to reach extremely low temperatures.
Back in 2005, an American buyer ordered from Ricor several “cryocoolers” for a NASA research assignment to Mars.
“When it was announced that the Curiosity had landed on Mars, we contacted the buyer, who confirmed that the Israeli cooler was indeed in Mars,” Ricor’s marketing manager Yoav Zur told Yedioth. “Everyone in the factory was excited. Our 170 employees were all very proud.”
The coolers serve to keep a detector onboard the Curiosity at minus 173 degrees Celsius at all times. The detector is used to identify Mars materials.
“Without our cooler, it would be impossible to determine the type of materials examined on Mars.,” said Zur.