Published on Tuesday, November 13, 2007

On a Martian mission

By Sarah A. Reid
Staff writer

SOUTHERN PINES — A Sandhills company will help answer an age-old question: Was there ever life on Mars?

Scribner Associates Inc., a laboratory supplier for electrochemical researchers, has received a $600,000 NASA contract to build an electronic measuring system. That system is slated to become one component of an ExoMars rover that should hit the red planet in 2013.

“It is exciting,” said Louie Scribner, the president of the company. “This is something we have wanted to do for the past few years.”

In 2006, the Southern Pines-based company was awarded an initial six-month, $100,000 contract to study the feasibility of building an electronic device that would measure various oxidants — a type of chemical compound — that may be found in Martian soil and atmosphere. Scientists will study the amounts and types of oxidants to help determine whether life existed on Mars.

“They will probably spend the next 50 years looking at it,” Scribner said.

The latest contract will allow Scribner scientists and engineers to perfect their prototype over the next two years. Kevin Cooper, the lead scientist, said the final product will weigh about 8ounces and be the size of a deck of cards.

If NASA likes the prototype, a third contract most likely would be awarded.

The actual device that goes into space probably will be built by an avid NASA partner — the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. There, scientists will determine how to ensure that the electronics can survive extremely cold temperatures, radiation and a heat treatment designed to eradicate germs and other biological material.

“They put this thing in an oven and bake it before it even gets on a rocket,” Scribner said.

Scribner Associates is known internationally for fuel-cell testing equipment and software that measures electrochemical reactions.

Typically, Scribner scientists and engineers build the tools researchers need to build products sold to the public. For example, Scribner supplies equipment to most U.S. battery manufacturers and Japanese car makers. Those companies use the information provided by Scribner Associates’ tools to build longer-lasting batteries and faster cars.

“What we are doing here steps a little outside our boundaries,” Scribner said.

But Cooper, the head scientist, and Matt Smith, the director of engineering, are up for the challenge — as long as they don’t have to travel intergalactically to repair their work.

“We told them there was no service agreement,” Smith joked.

Scribner Associates was founded in 1981 in Charlottesville, Va. The company moved to Southern Pines in 1997 and has 14 employees. Scribner wants to hire another electronics engineer and another researcher to help develop the NASA electronics and fuel-cell testing equipment for the Department of Energy.

Staff writer Sarah A. Reid can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or 323-4848, ext. 280.