Cryogenics

Starting in the 80’s, for the ISO space telescope from ESA, CSL developed its expertise in cryogenics with the support of the University of Liège. In this frame CSL acquired 2 liquefiers (KOCH and LINDE) A very unique facility was even developed for the vibration testing, below 20K, of the Herschel focal plane instruments.

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hanks to this, CSL team was also implied in the design and development of instruments to be operated at liquid helium temperatures: the PACS cryo-mechanism, the Input Optics and Calibration unit for the MIRI instrument on the JWST, Athena X-IFU, Dewar Entrance Assembly (DEA)... Several laboratory set-ups and cryostats have also been designed and implemented: cryogenic emissivity measurements, traction bench, thermal sensors calibration, cold CTE measurements.