Hudson’s Hypertronics Makes Presence Felt On Mars
Hudson-based Hypertronics Corp., which makes electrical connectors, is no stranger to having its products launched into orbit.
The firm's connectors can be found in the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
And now, for the first time, they're also on Mars, aboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity.
Helping Make History
Curiosity landed on Mars on Aug. 6 (or Aug. 5, depending on what part of the world you live in) after a 350-million-mile flight that lasted more than eight months. The landing was watched by millions around the world on television and on the web.
In MetroWest, it was about 1:30 a.m. on a Monday. David Beach, an engineer and marketing manager at Hypertronics who worked on the project, was asleep.
"We missed it live," Beach said.
Beach watched the footage later in the day, and said it was "a tremendous moment" for NASA and the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which awarded Hypertronics the contract to supply the connectors more than three years ago.
As the rover beams back information from Mars, it can be inspiring for Hypertronics employees, said Scott Pianalto, vice president for business development for Smiths Connectors North America, the parent company of Hypertronics.
"People can fall into a rut sometimes and not appreciate the work they bring," Pianalto said. "Obviously something like this program really hits home and shows the value of what they do."
The purpose of the connectors is to ensure electrical messages can be passed between the "brain stem" of the rover and onboard computer that control lift-off, navigation, entry, descent, landing, roaming and geological surveying.
The connectors were tested by NASA for extreme environmental conditions and are designed to perform in severe environments that include shock, vibration and temperature extremes.
Industry Shifts
With defense spending set to take a haircut in the coming years, companies like Hypertronics are keeping a close watch. Hypertronics would not disclose the value of the contract it won from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or to what extent government contracts make up its revenue, but Pianalto said the company has noticed different spending patterns of late by federal agencies with which it does business.
Pianalto said that so far, those changes have not had any significant impact on Hypertronics' overall revenue, and he believes the company will be largely spared because of the type of product it offers.
"I think one of the areas (in which) Hypertronics is somewhat protected is the fact that the technology, or the area where the product is actually needed, tends to be on sophisticated systems, which is where the funding is strongest at this point," he said.
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