To create and send any unit into space, specialists from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will need to apply engineering, aerodynamics, a lot of scientific developments, and also use special painting. This also applies to the NASA Mars 2020 rover.
According to the scheduled schedule, it should land on the surface of the Red Planet on February 18, 2021. NASA paints all of its rovers, and Mars 2020 is no exception.
Painting a vehicle for an alien world is very different from painting a regular car. Let's start with the fact that the whole process is done manually.
It takes about four months to assemble the rover's chassis from a lot of aluminum parts, and it will take another 3-4 months to turn it into a full-fledged unit.
Once assembly is complete, the aluminum body will be painted white, which will reflect sunlight, protecting the rover from overheating.
Unlike the coating that is applied to car bodies, this paint is much more durable. It is able to withstand the extreme temperatures of Mars, which can range from 20Β°C near the equator to -73Β°C elsewhere on the Red Planet.
For the applied paint to work effectively, the coating must be applied evenly and have the required thickness. After applying the paint, NASA must also make sure that the surface of the rover will not absorb anything, such as water or other chemicals.
Source: 3dnews.ru