ESA’s Big-Bang mission instruments trust Tekdata harnesses for super-chilled performance

The Ariane 5 space mission has just launched carrying two satellites to collect signals remaining from the Big Bang, which will rely on ultra-low-temperature electrical interconnects developed by Tekdata. The satellites on board are the Herschel Space Telescope, which is the largest optical space telescope ever launched, and the Planck satellite for radiation measurement. Planck’s instruments are capable of measuring radiation levels below two parts per million (ppm), and are many times more sensitive than previous instruments.

The Tekdata wiring harnesses are being used to conduct minute electrical signals from the ultra-sensitive detectors fitted to Herschel’s Spectral Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and Planck’s High Frequency Instrument (HFI). To build these harnesses Tekdata has created micro-miniature cables of ultra-low thermal mass minimising the energy required to operate the detectors at temperatures near absolute zero to support the detection of infrared and microwave radiation still reverberating after the Big Bang that created the universe.

Both satellites will be in Lissajous orbit about the second Lagrange point of the Sun – Earth system (L2) 1.5 million Km from the Earth. The science goals are to study the formation of the galaxies in the early universe and their subsequent evolution, investigate the creation of the stars and their interaction in the interstellar medium, observe the chemical composition of the atmospheres and surfaces of comets, planets and satellites and to examine the molecular chemistry of the universe.

The heating effect of even a small signal can be appreciable relative to SPIRE’s operating temperature of 300mK; HFI’s detector plate operates at an even lower temperature of 100mK. Tekdata employed superconducting alloys such as niobium-titanium to prevent I2R heating and thereby further minimising the demand on the cryostat of each satellite that is responsible for cooling the instruments. This, in turn, enables the instrument designers to minimise the heat load to maximise the operating life.

To ensure ultimate performance and reliability in this most demanding of environments, Tekdata’s engineers offered a number of specialist solutions including nano-density terminations.

“Being selected to partner on these projects represents a tremendous achievement for Tekdata, working within a large, global consortium of highly specialised organisations,” commented Roy Blake of Tekdata Interconnections. “This is a hugely important project, not only for Tekdata but also for the institutions that will use the instruments as we seek to understand more about the birth and evolution of the universe.”