Elkem's unique specialty silicon powder product, Silgrain®, has travelled from Svelgen, Norway to the planet Mars.

Elkem is a world-leading supplier of specialised silicon materials to a range of industries, including aluminum, electronics, silicone chemicals, polysilicon, construction, refractories and oilfield. The speciality product Silgrain® has become an essential part of key advanced products such as batteries used in a variety of aerospace applications.

EaglePicher® Technologies is the leading provider of battery solutions for U.S. space missions. EaglePicher has powered launch vehicles, satellites, landers, and manned and unmanned missions since the beginning of the U.S. space program. In fact, EaglePicher batteries have over 2.6 billion cell hours in space without a mission failure.

EaglePicher's non-rechargeable thermal batteries were successfully used on the landing systems of the Mars Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, the InSight lander and will be used on the upcoming Mars 2020 mission. Thermal batteries can be designed for storage of 20 plus years and provide extremely high-power outputs over a short period of time in extreme environments. These features make them ideal for supplying the electrical power requirements to the critical deployment of landing subsystems during the entry, descent and landing phases of a mission. Elkem's Silgrain® has been used exclusively by EaglePicher for more than ten years in the production of their thermal batteries.

• [Editor:tianyawei]