Threaded screws at work into space

The International Space Station (ISS), bigger than a football field, flies at an altitude of 400 km with such speed that it defies gravity. Within a project started in 2015, three ball screws, Carry Type KGE, from Eichenberger Gewinde, featured by high operational as well as energy efficiency, manage the docking of the first innovative, re-useable space glider “Dream Chaser”, which will be able to dock on the ISS since 2020.

The new space shuttle will blast off inside the nose of the Atlas V launch vehicle to go into near-earth orbit. It can fly with or without a crew and land at any conventional airport. There is room for up to seven astronauts in the space glider. The “Dream Chaser” could, for example, be used as a research platform, to transport people or freight into space or to actively remove space junk from orbit. Using the docking unit in which Eichenberger’s ball screw Carry guarantees a precise, safe docking procedure, the Dream Chaser will be able to dock on the ISS, the occupied station in orbit.
Eichenberger is proving that the peculiarities of the Inox ball screw Carry, with integrated high-performance plastic in the ball return, will withstand the aggressive environment of space, ensuring function as well as resisting corrosion and wear.