An homage to the 21st anniversary of the Mars Opportunity Rover launch - this is the Lander 1 Rover Edition Pocket Knife. This limited edition knife features a real topographic texture that was taken from 3D scans via NASA's orbiting satellites. And we didn't forget the easter egg for this one either - Opportunity's last transmission is engraved on the pocket clip!
- Includes Lander 1 pocket knife with 3D Mars scales and Rover bead
- 3D printed in full color -- the scales are a type of tough polymer
- Made in Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Designed in Vancouver, Washington by the ever-talented Randall West of Chroma Scales.
SO WHY MARS?
The year was 2003. NASA launched the rover Opportunity to discover the secrets of the red planet in a 90 day mission. Opportunity persevered for 15 years.
21 years later we revere Opportunity as the most successful rover in space history. The world watched as Opportunity said its final goodbye with the now infamous words, "My battery is low and it's getting dark." Whew, still makes us emotional.
As our homage to this incredible feat of humanity's drive for adventure and discovery, The Lander 1 is now available as a pre-built with the Mars scales. These scales take the actual topography of Mars from scans by NASA and maps from Opportunity (yeah, so cool) and puts the red planet right inside your pocket. As an added gut-punch, each pocket clip includes a free engraving of Opportunity's final words.
This pre-built knife represents everything that Knafs strives to be: unlocking adventure, community and collaboration, and celebrating humanity's accomplishments.
Keep reading to learn more about the process.
Chroma Scales are designed and developed by Randall, who is a Knafs fan that turned into a friend and amazing piece of the knife community. He approached Ben at a trade show, the two hit it off, then Ben had the chance to visit Randall at his day job in Washington state and learn how these scales are made. Here’s how it works: Randall engineers expensive 3d printers (they cost $200K+) at HP by day. Then he prints Knafs scales on these wild, expensive printers by night. It’s an amazing symbiosis. And the printers! Essentially, they take powder-based polymer and lay it down on a bed. UV light then shines on the polymer, hardening it and colorizing it, layer by layer, in an additive manufacturing process. Through magic and lasers and magic lasers, the powder is shaped and colored until you're launched onto the red planet.
This is what we love about the Knafs industry more than anything: there are really cool, kind people who are willing to share their smarts with others. Sure, we make some money together on our respective projects, but it’s more than that. Ben genuinely enjoyed chatting with Randall and learning from him. He’s a good dude. He makes great products. We love collaborating with him.