Nye Lubricants to take part in high-profile NASA mission

Nye Lubricants will take part its second high-profile NASA mission in 2021 with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch on December 24 from French Guiana in South America. This infrared telescope, developed in  conjunction with the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency, will be used to study and compare the  evolution of exoplanets to planets in our solar system. Nye became involved with the JWST project back in 2002 to  provide an oil for multiple mechanisms within the telescope. This launch comes just months after the successful  landing of the Mars Perseverance Rover. 

The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA’s largest and most powerful telescope to date. NASA’s lifetime cost for the project is expected to be USD9.7 billion, of which USD8.8 billion was spent on spacecraft design and development and USD861 million is planned to support five years of mission operations.

The  telescope uses a proprietary multiply-alkylated cyclopentane (MAC) Pennzane™ oil. MAC polymers have a molecular  structure that resists wear-related breakdown, making them ideal for heavily loaded, metal-on-metal applications. 

“In an application as large as this, the anti-wear  properties of a grease or oil are critical,” says Tony Dotson, aerospace industry manager at Nye Lubricants.  Pennzane™ lubricants offer the unique combination of extreme wear protection, low outgassing, and additive compatibility for optimal performance in space and other vacuum applications. Nye Lubricants holds the exclusive distribution rights to Pennzane™ fluids. The  JWST marks the largest use of Pennzane™ in Nye history. 

In space applications, validation is crucial to the success of a mission. “Once a product is up in space, repairs and maintenance  become almost impossible. Our lubricants for space mechanisms are backed by extensive validation data to ensure  reliable performance in the vacuum of space,” says Dr. Jason Galary,  Nye’s director of Research, Development, and Innovation.  

Nye Lubricants, Inc., a member of the FUCHS Group, is a formulator and manufacturer of high-quality synthetic oils,  greases and specialty fluids, based in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Founded in 1844, Nye services customers in a broad range of industries including the  top 25 global automotive parts suppliers, the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractors, name-brand  appliance and power tool companies, preeminent medical device manufacturers, and several leading in-vacuum  equipment producers.