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NASA Inflatable Heat Shield Finds Strength in Flexibility

How does something that looks like a stack of orange inner tubes covered in a black tarp survive temperatures reaching 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it plunges through the atmosphere? An upcoming technology demonstration uses advanced materials to make a heat shield that’s tougher than it looks. Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator...

Pilot Project Tests New High-Capacity Transmission Lines

VEIR, an early-stage technology company based in Woburn, Mass., is pioneering the first application of superconducting transmission over long distances, a key component to deliver renewable sources of energy safely and reliably from where it is generated to where it is needed, often cross-country. VEIR is teaming up with National...

Three Questions: Emre Gençer on the role of blue hydrogen in decarbonizing the world’s energy systems

In the past several years, hydrogen energy has increasingly become a more central aspect of the clean energy transition. Hydrogen can produce clean, on-demand energy that could complement variable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. That being said, pathways for deploying hydrogen at scale have yet to...

Thermal Control Designs Keep Astronauts Cool on Space Station

For astronauts, staying cool and comfortable on China’s Tiangong space station is no problem. The station orbits Earth in about 90 minutes at an altitude of 400 km. It experiences large fluctuations in temperature, ranging from 150 degrees Celsius when the station is exposed to the sun to minus 100...

First Radio-Astronomy Cryogenic Receivers with All-Metal 3D-Printed RF Components

The NAOJ ALMA Project and Advanced Technology Center have successfully fabricated corrugated all-metal 3D-printed horns for the ALMA Band 1 receivers (Radio Frequency: 35-50 GHz). Since around 2015, the NAOJ ALMA Project and the Advanced Technology Center have been studying the applications of additive manufacturing (AM), which produces three-dimensional objects by...

Explained: Why ISRO again test-fired its CE-20 Cryogenic Engine, ahead of next flight in 2023

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully test-fired its CE-20 Cryogenic engine, as part of the preparation for the next launch of its heaviest rocket. This latest test comes a week after the Indian Space agency placed 36 satellites of the UK-based ‘OneWeb’, into Low Earth Orbit, using its...

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...

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