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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
We will research the feasibility of extending current ADR heat reject temperature from 4.5 K to 50 K by providing a separate, multi-stage system to cover the 4.5 K to 30 K Range. This ADR would be able to work directly with a 50 K deep-space radiator as its heat reject temperature and provide cooling at 4.5 K, eliminating the need for a mechanical cryocooler, or liquid helium Dewar, and achieve a long-life, low vibration and high-reliability solution for a broad range of missions and mission categories.
As NASA moves to developing and incorporating more sensitive instrumentation, detectors and their respective instruments operating at lower temperatures become more common. An ADR operating from 50 K to 4.5 K, coupled with a radiator viewing deep space, eliminates a major and costly subsystem (a mechanical cryocooler) from the cooling chain. This eliminates a major vibration source and complex interfaces between the instrument and the rest of the payload. This new technology could be used across a broad electromagnetic spectrum – instruments and detectors already in use cover the x-ray, mid IR, Far IR, and sub mm – with proposals planned for use in the UV, optical and near IR. Outside of astrophysics, quantum communication requires detector operation a ~2 K and memory storage in the 100 mK ranges. All of these challenging missions would be greatly simplified by this technology. Note that if this technology were already mature, the cryocooler for JWST/MIRI would not have been needed.
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