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SpaceX Launch System Redesigned, Ready for Testing

SpaceX indicates that a test vehicle for the company’s next-generation launch system could be ready for testing early in 2019. The test hopper will be powered by three of the company’s methane/liquid oxygen engines, units that were "radically redesigned" according to chief executive Elon Musk.

US Cryogenics Lab Critical for Pacific Operations

A US military base in Okinawa includes the only cryogenic facility for the US Air Force in Japan, producing and supplying the oxygen and nitrogen necessary to keep US aircraft in the sky. The unit, however, is also known for saving local lives and making ice cream.

Science Publication Recommends the Physics Books of 2018

Symmetry writer Mike Perricone presented readers with his annual compilation of popular science books related to particle physics and astrophysics. The list includes more than ten suggestions, including "Particle Physics Brick by Brick: Atomic and Subatomic Physics Explained...in LEGO," by Dr. Ben Still.

Linde Opens New Hydrogen Station in Germany

The Linde Group (CSA CSM) has opened another hydrogen station in Hanover, Germany. The company is using the next generation of its proprietary cryogenic pump, converting stored liquid hydrogen into a gaseous state compressed to 900 bar. There are currently 55 hydrogen filling stations in Germany, and 100 stations scheduled...

Scientists Enter Unexplored Territory in Superconductivity Search

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have been trying to understand key characteristics that cause superconductivity. They have used a combination of experimental techniques to plot points in a previously unmapped region of the "phase diagram” of BSCCO, a high-temperature superconductor.

Manufacturing in the Cradle of the Cryostat

Major cryogenic projects are underway in Hazira, India, where Larsen & Tourbo Ltd is wrapping up the cryostat system designed for the ITER project in France. The company began associated work in 2015, including segments for the ITER cryostat's base section, and is now finishing its contribution with the 490-ton...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dewar

A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...

Latest in Cryo Central

Cryogenic Electronics

Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...

Particle Physics: High Energy Physics

Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...

HTS Degaussing Systems

From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water and...

Latest in Ask the Experts

An Issue of Pressure and Flow Rate in a Supply Tank

Please help solve this problem: A supply tank requires a vaporizer to generate sufficient pressure to pump stored fluid up into a vehicle or tank. The available head is limited as the tank level falls and it is important to minimize the system pressure drop to maintain the desired flow...

Using MLI on VJ Line Joints or Cryo Storage Tanks

When installing Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets on VJ line joints or cryo storage tanks should they be wrapped and tied down tight or loose? These are usually pre-cut to size. Also should they have an access hole at the point of where the molecular sieve is installed to help...

Separated layers of ice over a pipe

I want to know that why there are different layers of ice over a pipe carrying a cryogenic fluid, each layer separated with clear marks / lines? What do these layers signify?

Using nitrogen as a cryogen

Is it possible to achieve -200˚C using nitrogen as a cryogen?

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