In space, no one can hear your (critical) supply chain

By RAY DONNELLY //

Space might be the “final frontier” to Capt. Kirk, the crew of the Starship Enterprise and generations of “Star Trek” fans, but to Betatronix and other companies here on 21st Century Earth, it’s the continuation of a long legacy.

Betatronix is a decades-old, Long Island-based provider of aerospace components, part of a regional aerospace cluster that actually began as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s World War II “Arsenal of Democracy.”

Founded in the mid-1960s – at the height of the Cold War – BTX has been providing mission-critical sensors to frontline legacy aircraft that have patrolled our skies and defended our shores, including the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and Lockheed’s mighty C-130 Hercules.

Expanding on its experiences with the U.S. Department of Defense’s aerospace programs, BTX has soared into other sectors – primarily commercial aviation and industrial automation, where its next-generation sensors have found new ways to explore the cutting edge.

Today, precision control solutions in both linear and rotary form – known as “potentiometers” – are used as sensors and input-control devices in landing gear, cockpit avionics and flap controls. And they’re just getting started.

Ray Donnelly: Starfleet engineering.

Their custom designs, rugged performance parameters and low power requirements make them ideal for space applications – ideal component for satellites, the International Space Station and extraterrestrial rover vehicles.

Already, the potentiometers are installed on satellite arrays in geosynchronous orbits more than 22,000 miles above the Earth’s surface; they’re helping to control water flow and reclamation aboard the ISS; and they’re integral to steering exploratory rovers across the surfaces of strange, new worlds.

It’s no surprise that a small Long Island company can help humanity go where no Earth tech has gone before. The BTX “pots” are just one example of a foundational supply chain that helped win World War II and put men on the Moon, and could very well play a pivotal role in the race to commercialize space flight.

As the COVID crisis increases the demand for satellite-based services, expect Long Island’s place on the supply chain to gain even more prominence. More than 250 aerospace companies, employing more than 24,000 people, already call the Island home, and businesses both big and small have a part to play: BTX is not a prime contractor or a frontline subcontractor, but those larger enterprises would have trouble doing their thing without innovators like us.

Space is a big challenge, requiring all-hands-on-deck solutions. Companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic rocket into the headlines, but it takes a full and productive supply chain to answer the clarion call that first rang out in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy vowed to put a man on the moon – “and do the other things,” too.

From satellites to rovers to space stations – and maybe even the bridge of the Enterprise, one not-too-distant day – companies like BTX and components like the all-important potentiometers will help point the way.

Ray Donnelly is the manager of business development at Ronkonkoma-based electric parts supplier Betratronix, an affiliate of Massachusetts-based Electro Switch Corp.