Tekdata builds wiring harnesses for the James Webb Space Telescope

The Webb Telescope, a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, will be NASA’s premier space observatory following its launch in 2013. It will orbit 1.5 million kilometres from Earth at the second Earth-Sun Lagrange point, capturing infrared images of every phase of our cosmic history – from the first luminous objects to the assembly of galaxies and formation of planetary systems.

With its tennis court-sized sunshield, the Webb Telescope needs complex harnesses to link the spacecraft’s systems, supplying power and data for the telescope’s alignment control systems as it orbits Earth in ultra-low temperatures. Tekdata will build a range of test harnesses and pre-flight cables before supplying the flight harnesses for integration into the spacecraft.

“Tekdata is proud to have won this important contract working with such a prestigious company as Northrop Grumman on this decade’s top priority space mission for astronomy and astrophysics,” said Terry McManus, Tekdata Interconnections’ JWST project manager.

“Tekdata’s expertise in space-qualified, high-specification and cryogenic wiring harnesses was an important factor in winning this Northrop Grumman contract,” added Roy Blake, Tekdata’s JWST technical lead. “This expertise includes solutions derived from other Tekdata’s projects using our Cryoconnect technologies involving superconducting materials, ultra-fine-gauge wire fabrication processes and planar structures to achieve optimal electrical performance and repeatability.”

The Webb Telescope program is an international collaboration led by NASA and includes partners from the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency; Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor to NASA.