Overview of RICOR Tactical Cryogenic Refrigerators for Space Missions (2016)
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Sergey Riabzev, Avishai Filis, Dorit Livni, Itai Regev, Victor Segal, Dan Gover
RICOR Cryogenic and Vacuum Systems, En-Harod Ihud, Israel 18960
ABSTRACT
Cryogenic refrigerators represent a significant enabling technology for Earth and Space science enterprises. Many of the space instruments require cryogenic refrigeration to enable the use of advanced detectors to explore a wide range of phenomena from space.
RICOR refrigerators involved in various space missions are overviewed in this paper, starting in1994 with “Clementine” Moon mission, till the latest ExoMars mission launched in 2016. RICOR tactical rotary refrigerators have been incorporated in many space instruments, after passing qualification, life time, thermal management testing and flight acceptance.
The tactical to space customization framework includes an extensive characterization and qualification test program to validate reliability, the design of thermal interfacing with a detector, vibration export control, efficient heat dissipation in a vacuum environment, robustness, mounting design, compliance with outgassing requirements and strict performance screening.
Current RICOR development is focused on dedicated ultra-long-life, highly reliable, space cryogenic refrigerator based on a Pulse Tube design
Keywords: cryogenic refrigerator, space mission, tactical rotary, Stirling cycle, Pulse Tube, highly-reliable, long-life.