It’s quite amazing that humans have created a spacecraft able to withstand a 548 million kilometre journey, and land it on Mars. It’s an outstanding achievement, for anyone, but for one Saskatoon woman it means her company is reaching new heights.
“I’m a sci-fi geek so it’s really cool that I have the opportunity to connect with this. I also have a meteorite collection so this is kind of opposite. I’m putting something into space, rather than getting something from it,” said The Ring Lord founder and CEO Bernice Rahm.
Rahm’s company, which started in Saskatoon and now manufactures out of Ontario, makes chainmail and scalemail, among other things. What’s on NASA‘s Mars InSight probe is a combination of titanium chainmail and scalemail, making up an armour.
“There’s a seismometer and it has a skirt. The skirt hangs down off it and hugs the terrain. It’s there to protect the sensitive equipment from the elements,” Rahm said.
Rahm started this project over five years ago with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and MailleTec Industries, a spin-off company of The Ring Lord in Swift Current. The protective armour is a combination of products from the two companies.
Traditionally, her products are used in fashion, decor, safety and manufacturing processes; but every once in a while they’re used in films and TV shows, including Game of Thrones, World of Warcraft, and Lord of the Rings.
While those are lots of fun, Rahm said, it isn’t the company’s day-to-day. After the media coverage settles, it’ll be back to work for the humble entrepreneur, but now she has an out of this world story to tell.