Flight cooling performance of the Spitzer Space Telescope cryogenic telescope assembly

Paul T. Finley; Richard A. Hopkins; Russell B. Schweickart

doi:10.1117/12.550547

12 October 2004 Flight cooling performance of the Spitzer Space Telescope cryogenic telescope assembly

Paul T. Finley, Richard A. Hopkins, Russell B. Schweickart

Proceedings Volume 5487, Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telescopes; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.550547
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Cryogenic Telescope Assembly (CTA) on the Spitzer Space Telescope employs a revolutionary warm launch design. Unlike previous space cryogenic telescopes, the Spitzer telescope is mounted outside of the cryostat and was launched at ambient temperature. The telescope was cooled through a combination of passive radiation and controlled vapor cooling from the superfluid helium cryostat. Launched in August 2003 with 49 kg of helium, the 0.85-meter telescope cooled to below 5.5 K within the initial 45 days of flight in accordance with analytical predictions. Despite an aggressive schedule of instrument initialization and checkout testing during the first two months of flight, the CTA met the temperature requirements for all checkout activities. The transient flight performance of this multi-stage thermal/cryogenic system has been found to agree well with pre-launch predictions over the broad temperature range. With an emphasis on early flight cool-down behavior, this report highlights the pre-launch cryostat preparation, the thermal behavior during cryostat blow-down, comparisons to pre- and post-launch model predictions, and in-flight helium mass measurement. The post cool down performance and rate of helium use is also discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Paul T. Finley, Richard A. Hopkins, and Russell B. Schweickart "Flight cooling performance of the Spitzer Space Telescope cryogenic telescope assembly", Proc. SPIE 5487, Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telescopes, (12 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.550547

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available