Designing rubber for long-term Mars exploration

The interest in Mars exploration is now greater than has ever been in human history. New technologies allow reaching Mars’s surface safely, and the research performed there is more and more sophisticated. The missions, which are done on the Mars surface last much longer than in the early days of exploration. For example, the Curiosity rover mission has lasted for over 10 years and it’s still ongoing. Such a long time of operation in an environment drastically different from Earth’s conditions affects the properties of the materials used to a significant extent.
One of the most unique materials in engineering applications is rubber. Its viscoelastic properties make it an irreplaceable material for many applications, like tires, dampers, gaskets, hoses, etc. The growing interest in Mars exploration will require the development of new equipment that can withstand Martian conditions for a long time. Inevitably, rubber elements will be part of such equipment. Therefore, designing rubber that could successfully withstand Martian conditions is of significant interest.
The aim of this work is to develop new rubber compounds based on butadiene (BR) and silicone rubber (VMQ) blends, that would preserve good elasticity in low temperatures present on Mars, simultaneously assuring satisfactory mechanical properties (given by BR) and UV resistance (given by VMQ). The thermodynamically immiscible blends are chemically compatibilized and filled with functional fillers to provide a homogeneous micromorphology and good dynamic-mechanical performance.