Cryogenics: cold for space [ Return towards  High Tech  ]

A partner for over 50 years in the space adventure, Air Liquide’s specialists have developed a unique expertise in low temperature cryogenic technologies indispensable to carrying out space missions.

Expertise in very low temperatures, close to absolute zero (0 K = -273.15 °C), makes the Group’s engineers key partners in the development of onboard cooling systems for space missions.

To guarantee the measurements’ precision, satellite's detectors must be maintained at an extremely cold temperature.

The Group manufactured two major pieces of equipment for Planck and Herschel satellites which mission is to better understand the formation and evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang to the present day. Both satellites have the same requirements to reach the expected performance level: being cooled at extremely low temperatures.

For Herschel, Air Liquide manufactured a 2,400 liters tank to store superfluid helium at a very low temperature. Helium is used to cool the instruments placed in the focus of the telescope to about 1.5 K. For Planck, working with the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research), Air Liquide’s engineers designed a cryogenic system that maintains the detector at a temperature of 0.1 K. Once it is operational, Planck will then become the coldest point in space.

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Air Liquide Advanced Technologies

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Dominique Lecocq

2, Rue de Clémencière
BP 15
38360 SASSENAGE - France

 

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