Space Cryogenics

摘要

described the first of two sub-Kelvin cryogenic systems, the Far Infrared Photometer, (FIRP), carried as an instrument on the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) mission. In this col-describe the X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS) mission, which achieved the lowest temperature ever achieved in space, 60mK. It was designed and flown by the Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Wisconsin, the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronomical Science and Sumitomo Heavy Industries. It was flown on the Japanese Suzaku Observatory mission in July 2005. It was intended to last three years. Because ingestion of boil-off helium gas into the vacuum space, the XRS acquired data for only a few weeks. It functioned as designed, but the data were extremely limited. Several other instruments not dependent on the deep cryogenics functioned properly and returned significant data. Plans are being made to refly the XRS on the Japanese New X-ray Telescope (NeXT) mission in 2010.