AUGUST 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 25
WHOLLY MOLI
SECTOR MICROWAVE OUT IN SPACE
BY BRIANA BONFIGLIO
Sector Microwave Industries, a Deer
Park-based manufacturing company, is
creating technology that is literally out
of this world.
The manufacturer’s satellite switches
are currently attached to the Mars
2020 Perseverance Rover spacecraft
for NASA’s space mission and have
also gone to other planets, including
Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto. The
switches transmit various data, such
as photos from the space mission, back
to Earth. They also serve as the backup
in case any other part of the spacecraft
malfunctions.
“If our switches fail, the mission fails,”
says Bill Nelson, vice president of Sector
Microwave. “It’s very critical to the mission
that they work.
“There’s lots of equipment on there —
amplifiers, antennas, all sorts of gears,”
he adds. “If any of those have a problem,
we reroute the information to the backup.
Everything goes through us.”
Nelson’s father, Victor Nelson, is the president
of Sector Microwave and started
the business in 1974. Victor became well
acquainted with waveguide technology
as an aircraft carrier and radar operator
serving in World War II. After the war,
he became an engineer, which led him to
the path of patenting his own work.
Now, at 96 years old, Victor continues to
invent new switches, apply for patents,
and serve as president of the 60-employee
family business.
“We’re very blessed with him,” Bill says.
“He’s not your typical 96-year-old.”
Sector Microwave does it all — the
company designs, manufactures,
tests, and implements switches that
go out into the atmosphere and bring
back vital information from space missions,
and it’s all done from its Deer
Park facility.
“We’re very proud that we’re on Long Island
and do it all here,” Bill says. “People
don't know that this type of manufacturing
takes place on Long Island, and
it's neat that we’re a critical part of the
space missions.”
Of course, there is pressure involved
to get everything right. But Bill says
that they have a great track record and
are well trusted in the industry. All the
switches are rigorously tested before
heading out into space.
“It’s very exciting when we make the
switches,” Bill says. “They’re tested
to extreme environmentalconditions.
Sector Microwave’s switches are still
collecting data out in space with the
Perseverance Mars Rover, which
landed on Feb. 18. The company has
had switches on all five Mars Rover
missions.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, the biggest,
heaviest, most advanced vehicle sent to the
Red Planet by NASA, is seen on Mars in an
illustration provided by Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
(Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout
via REUTERS)
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