Prause Durotec supports young space explorers

For many years now, NASA has been hosting the “Rover Challenge” for students interested in space travel: The task consists in designing a vehicle for two people that could be driven on the Moon or on Mars. Some 100 teams from all over the world take part in the competition every year. The rules are demanding: Among other things, the vehicle must be foldable and equipped with airless tyres – a case for leaf springs from Prause Durotec.

Student teams that want to use suspension elements made of composite material are therefore always supplied with components from Prause Durotec’s production. Successfully, we might add: The world champion teams of 2010 and 2015, for example, used springs from Arnsberg. In 2017, student team representatives from Leipzig, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro visited the company to get inspiration for the April 2018 competition and handed an “International Award” from NASA to Managing Director Tim Prause as a thank you.

During the company tour, the engineer and entrepreneur was able to answer the students’ many questions. “It’s great to see how small companies in Germany manage to hold their own across the globe with their flexibility and ideas”, said Catherine Trusheva (16) from Moscow, who would like to become a cosmonaut one day. It is well possible that leaf springs from Prause Durotec will one day launch into space thanks to this promotion of young talent: Former participants in those competitions are already working on projects such as the rover for Exomars and the preparation of manned flights to the Moon and Mars.