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NASA Space

Instrument and Sensing Technology

Instrument Cooler Technology Page

On this page:

• Coolers and Cryogenics Technology Program Goals and Objectives
• Coolers and Cryogenics Technology Program Accomplishments
• Coolers and Cryogenics Technology Program Progress Reports
• Additional Information

Coolers and Cryogenics Technology Program Goals and Objectives

The Coolers and Cryogenics Technology Program is an integrated element of the Instrument and Sensing Technology Program involving the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Instrument Cooler Technology Accomplishments

Cryogenic Cooler Progress!

• NASA technology makes significant progress towards a five-year life space cryogenic cooler that weighs less than 15 kilograms and provides 0.45 watts of cooling power at 30 degrees Kelvin for only 75 watts of input power. This cooler at its design point is 50% more efficient than any comparable cooler to date.
• The Earth Observing System (EOS) Advanced Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Instrument will fly a TRW Pulse Tube Refrigerator. Click here for a history of the pulse tube.
• Cooler Technology Tested in Space! The Cryo Systems Experiment (CSE) flew on the space shuttle Discovery in February 1995. CSE is a space flight experiment conducted by the Hughes Aircraft Co., in a cooperative program with NASA. The overall goal is to validate and characterize the on-orbit performance of two thermal management technologies that comprise a hybrid cryogenic system. These thermal management technologies consist of: 1) a new generation, long life, low vibration, 65 K Stirling-cycle cryocooler, and 2) an oxygen diode heat pipe that thermally couples the cryocooler and a cryogenic thermal energy storage device. Click here for more information on the overall shuttle mission (STS-63).

Instrument Cooler Technology Progress Reports

The Goddard Spaceflight Center Quarterly Progress Reports:

• GSFC Progress Reports (from October 1994 on) are now available on the Mechanical Coolers page from GSFC.
• The Aerospace Cryogenics overview and the Mechanical Coolers page from the Cryogenics, Propulsion and Fluid Systems Branch has additional information about the cryocooler activities at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
• Earlier version of GSFC Cooler progress reports (these were made available through NASA Headquarters, prior to the GSFC Cooler server coming on line).
  • GSFC Cryocooler Quarterly Progress Report, July - September, 1995
  • GSFC Cryocooler Quarterly Progress Report, April - June, 1995.
  • The January to April 1995 report is not yet available on-line.
  • GSFC Cryocooler Quarterly Progress Report, October 1994 - December 1994
  • GSFC Cryocooler Quarterly Progress Report, July 1994 - September 1994
  • GSFC Cryocooler Quarterly Progress Report, April 1994 - June 1994
  • Steve Castles of GSFC has prepared a narrative summary of the progress and plans for this program.

The Ames Research Center Quarterly Progress Reports:

• AMES RESEARCH CENTER CRYOGENIC COOLERS PROGRESS REPORT (most recent)
• The ARC Infrared Technology Server has more information about the infrared detector and cryocooler technology efforts at the NASA Ames Research Center.
• Earlier ARC Cryogenic Cooler Progress Reports
  • Past Editions of the Cryo Development Program Progress Report (beginning July 1994).
  • The quarterly Progress Report for April to June 1994 was not converted to HTML and is not currently available on-line.
  • An html version of the ARC Cryogenic Coolers quarterly progress report for January to March 1994.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Activities:

The JPL Cryocooler Development and Test Program.

Additional Information

Other Cooler Programs, Web Sites, and Sources of Information:

NASA Activities

• NASA Advanced Refrigerator/Freezer Technology Development Project from the Stirling Technology Branch of the Power Technology Division at LeRC. I am checking on the status of this, as I understand that most of this effort has ended due to funding limitations.
• Cryocooler Development and Test Program from JPL.
• The ARC Infrared Technology Server.
• The Aerospace Cryogenics overview and the Mechanical Coolers page from the GSFC Cryogenics, Propulsion and Fluid Systems Branch.

Other Activities

• Recently LANL announced some breakthrough work in optical cooling of solids using laser light! They call this LASSOR, for Los Alamos Solid State Optical Refrigerator.
• The Thermoacoustics WWW Server from the Energy and Process Engineering Group of the Engineering Sciences and Applications Division at LANL.
• New on-line! The home page of the Cryogenic Society of America, Inc. (CSA), a non-profit technical society serving all those interested in any phase of cryogenics.
• Some information about Spacecraft Cryogenic Technologies (I found it through a web search, and have not been able to track down which Division is responsible) from the Space and Missiles Technology Directorate from the USAF Phillips Laboratory.
• The Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) has been renamed the Dual-Use Applications Program. Regrettably, because of the reduced funding, the Cryogenic Coolers technology focus area was eliminated from the FY 1995 Competition.

Return to:

• Instrument and Sensing Technology Page
• Advanced Technology and Mission Studies Division Page
• Office of Space Science
• NASA Headquarters Page
• NASA Page

Created March 25, 1994. Last update: April 18, 1997. Please see my Disclaimer and Web Policy page. Maintained by Gordon Johnston.

The world wide web uniform resource locator (URL) for this page is:

http://ranier.hq.nasa.gov/Sensors_page/Cryo/CryoTemp.html