MATERIALS: SOLUTION AND AVOIDANCE OF PROBLEMS; ISO AND FIRST

摘要

ISO, ESA's Infrared Space Observatory, is a scientific satellite launched in 1995. It is a multi-user telescope facility for measuring very weak thermal radiation sources in space. ISO uses a cryostat with superfluid helium boiling off at 1.7 K to provide the necessary low temperatures for both the telescope and the detectors of the scientific instruments. Owing to the required very low temperatures, the development of ISO's cryostat, telescope and scientific instruments was a major challenge from the materials viewpoint. ISO encountered a number of problems with materials of various applications: structural, thermal, optical, mechanism and electrical. Several examples will be presented and solutions described. The result of this effort, amongst others, is the excellent performance of the ISO satellite. The paper will describe the ISO satellite and some of its materials development problems and their solution. It will also show how ESA is maximising this experience by using ISO technology in conceiving FIRST, the Far InfraRed and Submillimetre Telescope, the 4th Cornerstone of ESA's Horizons 2000 Science Programme, to be flown in late 2005.