The vacuum of space isn't known for being a forgiving environment, yet your equipment still needs to perform, protected from millikelvin temperatures and other elements such as vibration throughout the telescope or satellite's journey to its destination.
Over more than 50 years, we have developed innovative methods to ensure that cable assemblies perform effectively in the harshest environments.
Space Saving and Weight Reduction
Take advantage of our innovative space-saving solutions such as woven ribbon cables which are lightweight, flexible, and manufactured in a flat, compact format. The ability to weave wire as small as .1mm in diameter allows us to build 100 wires into an assembly measuring just 25.4mm by .6mm with increased tensile strength.
You can also reduce the size of the assembly by eliminating bulky feedthrough connectors; we can seal ribbon cables in the feedthrough itself.
Vacuum Solutions
To ensure our assemblies perform effectively in the vacuum of space and meet the stringent requirements of NASA we use polyether ether ketone (PEEK) for ultra-high vacuum environments. PEEK is not only highly resistant to radiation, chemicals, and wear but also has very low off-gassing in line with permissible limits.
Alpha 3 can perform in-house vacuum leak testing using automatic test equipment.
Encapsulation
Our uniquely developed encapsulation processes use Stycast 2850FT and Catalyst 9 (referenced in NASA’s Qualified Parts List Directory). Encapsulation provides protection, strain relief and, in some cases, thermal protection for our unique ribbon cable assemblies. We have manufactured assemblies with encapsulation for a mission critical operation to L2 (Second Lagranian Point) 1.5 million kilometres from Earth ensuring safe travel, deployment and operation.
Click here to read more about our cryogenic solutions.
Large Hadron Collider: Having previously supplied 3000 miniature assemblies for the ATLAS instrument, we are now working on the design and production of modern radiation-proof ribbon cables to update the system. The new system will incorporate the latest technology and make use of our weaving capabilities.
James Webb Space Telescope: Our cable assemblies reach all the way to space, currently residing in the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We produced harnesses for three of JWST’s four primary instruments, as well as complex harnesses linking the spacecraft’s instruments and systems to the telescope, controlling its alignment and providing temperature information for health monitoring purposes.
Alma Atacama Array: Supporting the objective of discovering our cosmic origins, Alpha 3 has supplied solutions for numerous observatories and ground systems. For the 66-strong telescope array in Chile, we were asked to provide power and signal cables for the movement of the telescopes.
For more information, please get in touch with our sales team on +44 (0)1782 254738 or by emailing sales@alpha3manufacturing.com
