June 8, 2009 -- Hypertronics announced that its KA MIL-DTL-55302 QPL'D printed circuit board connectors were onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to repair NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
NASA's Hubble Servicing Mission 4 concluded after almost 13 days with a trouble-free Space Shuttle landing on Sunday May 24, 2009. During a series of spacewalks, astronauts replaced and repaired a total of four instruments. The Wide Field Camera 3 and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph were installed and the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph were successfully repaired, along with replacement of a number of components essential to the Hubble's smooth functioning.
Hypertronics' 320-pin KA series electrical connectors were originally selected for the HST to connect transmission power and processing signals between every instrument onboard and its associated motherboard. Hypertronics says its KA Series connectors were selected because of their ease of use, extremely low insertion force and high reliability.
"The basic reason for selecting Hypertronics KA connectors for HST is the unique wire basket design that creates a 360 degrees point of contact," comments Noman Siddiqi, senior component engineer, HST project part engineer, at NASA. "The KA connectors were identified from day one as the connector to use to ensure signal reliability and eliminate fretting which can be an issue with tuning fork style connectors."
Hubble's recent upgrade is expected to extend the iconic telescope's life until 2014. In that same year, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will launch. JWST will have a mirror almost three times that of Hubble's; for it, NASA has selected the Hypertronics cPCI 2mm NASA certified space grade connectors.
Hypertronics connectors are used in other NASA programs including the Mars Science Lab, Solar Dynamics Observatory, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and many military applications that require unfailing performance under the harshest environmental conditions.
Hypertronics bills its Hypertac system as a contact design characterized by a wire basket technology which encapsulates a male pin and guarantees continuous signal integrity especially critical in space applications where repair is either impossible or cost prohibitive.
On the Web:
www.hypertronics.com
