Flight Cryogenic System for the Micro-X Sounding Rocket
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Author(s)
Wikus, P.
Rutherford, J. M.
Trowbridge, S. N.
McCammon, D.
Adams, J. S.
Bandler, S. R.
Das, R.
Doriese, W. B.
Eckart, M. E.
Figueroa-Feliciano, E.
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Abstract
The Micro-X Imaging X-ray Spectrometer is a sounding rocket payload slated for launch in 2011. An array of transition edge sensors will be used to obtain high resolution X-ray spectra of astronomical sources. An Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (ADR) forms the heart of the instrument’s cryogenic system. It consists of a Ferric Ammonium Alum (FAA) salt pill in the bore of a low current 4 T superconducting magnet. The detector array is accommodated inside a magnesium housing which is thermally connected to the FAA salt. A bath of superfluid helium functions as a heat sink for the ADR. The helium tank is suspended inside a lightweight aluminum vacuum vessel by a set of reentrant G10 thrust tubes. The cryogenic system has been designed to withstand the extreme structural loads encountered in rocket flight, while at the same time providing hold-times sufficiently long to facilitate convenient operation during the launch campaign. Due to the short duration of a sounding rocket flight, the thermal recovery time constant of the cold mass had to be kept on the order of only a few seconds. In addition, special attention has been paid to minimizing the heating of the cold stage due to the dissipation of vibration originating from the rocket motor. The assembly of the Micro-X cryogenic system has been completed, and performance tests have been carried out. The design of the Micro-X cryogenic system and the results of the performance tests are presented here-in.
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2008-05
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Proceedings