The satellite roller screw program, available from ABSSAC, employs matched rollers to rotate (or satellite as the product name suggests) around the screw during actuation instead of ball bearings. By the nature of the design, there is an immediate increase in the physical amount of contact points on the screw that can support the load compared with that of the same diameter ball screw. In fact, the static load can be three times greater than that of ball screws, and their lifespan is 15 times longer. The many points of contact also give a satellite roller screw greater rigidity and shock tolerance than a ball screw without a compromise to friction or efficiency.
Satellite roller screws can rotate significantly faster and support much greater accelerations than ball screws, as there is no recycling of the ball bearings. In fact, a roller screw mechanism can handle twice the rotation speed of a ball screw.