Cold Facts Digital – Page 61 – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

Lunar Regolith Excavation Has No Working Solution — 50 College Robots Compete at Kennedy to Change That

Six weeks after Artemis II’s crewed lunar flyby, the engineering gap blocking a Moon landing goes to the test floor Fifty college teams open three days of autonomous robot trials at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, testing what may be the single most stubborn engineering problem on the path...

Fermilab and Northern Illinois University Expand Quantum Workforce Pipeline with New Academic Initiatives

Fermilab and Northern Illinois University (NIU) have signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to launch a specialized Master of Science in Physics program focused on quantum science and technology. The inaugural class is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2026, with students transitioning to hands-on research at...

Bluefors Joins Chicago Quantum Exchange

Bluefors has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange, strengthening CQE’s Midwest roots as the region expands efforts to build a quantum supply chain, expand innovation capacity, and scale a quantum workforce. Bluefors plays a vital role in all three areas. We opened our first US-based Bluefors Lab in Chicago last year,...

NASA Set to Test Orbital ‘Gas Station’ Technology to Propel Moon and Mars Missions

NASA’s LOXSAT mission aims to test orbital fuel transfer, potentially turning spacecraft into “gas stations in space” for lunar and Mars missions. A groundbreaking NASA mission could soon transform how astronauts travel to the moon and beyond. The upcoming Liquid Oxygen Flight Demonstration (LOXSAT) will test critical technologies for storing...

AI has a power delivery problem. Superconductivity offers a path forward

AI is changing what power delivery must do, and new approaches are required Growing AI energy demand is not only forcing data centers to address generation challenges, but also how power is delivered. As power density rises and timelines tighten, high-temperature superconductors (HTS, also known simply as superconductors) are moving...

Molecular Qubit Achieves Single-Photon Quantum Control

A team of researchers report a single organic molecule can now store, manipulate and read out quantum information one molecule at a time using light. They add that their work hints at a possible new quantum modality built from chemically engineered molecules rather than fabricated semiconductor defects. The study, published...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Regenerators

Regenerators or regenerative heat exchangers are a key component of cryocoolers such as pulse tube cryocoolers (Cold Facts, August 2014). Regenerator performance greatly affects the coefficient of performance of cryocoolers. Improvements in regenerator design and, in particular, regenerator materials have been an important factor in the improvement of the performance...

Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

The development of pulse tube cryocoolers has been a significant topic of research and development over the past 20 or so years. Pulse tube cryocoolers have a number of advantages over other types of cryocoolers and are now available commercially. In order to understand pulse tube cryocoolers, it’s best to...

Thermal Expansion

Thermal expansion refers to the change in size (length or volume) that a material undergoes as its temperature changes. In cryogenic systems this effect can be quite large and must be allowed for in the design. In isotropic materials, which include most engineering materials, the thermal expansion is the same...

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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