NEW ULM, Minn. -
A New Ulm company goes to a new planet.
NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars with help from a custom part manufacture in New Ulm.
Windings Employee Carmen Paulson says, "I was calling people saying Windings part is in there, we were really excited."
A custom–built Windings stator, is a key part of the sky cranes dynamic braking system.
President and CEO Jerry Kauffman says, "That was the part that was responsible for lowering the rover from the sky crane, to safely lower it down to the Martian plane."
When making a product to go into a harsh, unpredictable environment like outer space, the attention to detail is excruciating,
Kauffman says, "A small amount of lint or foreign debris could disrupt that operation and disable that function of the spacecraft."
And you can't exactly turn around and take the 350–million mile journey back to Earth to find a good mechanic.
Paulson says, "We are always striving for perfection because the bar is very high in this room, there is no room for much error."
This is the clean room where the stator was meticulously assembled and a piece of history literally passed through the hands of employees.
Janet Seifert says. "All of us, had our finger prints on that
Seifert jokingly adds, "Wiped off with alcohol everything is wiped off with alcohol around here."
Employees say all the meticulous work was well worth it when the Curiosity landed.
Kauffman says, "There is a million pieces to making the mission go well, but every part is import, our part is important, and we did it really well"
The job of getting Curiosity to Mars is done, but the sense of accomplishment among Winding employees will remain.
Joan Fiemeyer says, "We never dreamed that we would be doing something like this. It's a great accomplishment."
Jean Luepkey says, "I will be telling my grand children when they are old enough to understand."
Paulson says, "It's something you'll never forget and I don't think anyone at our company will ever forget
