Thermal behavior of the SHOOT gallery arm

The planned Superfluid Helium On-Orbit Transfer (SHOOT) experiment will show the feasibility of resupplying orbiting facilities with liquid helium. The SHOOT experiment, designed for transfer rates of 300 to 800 liters/hr, will use a thermomechanical pump and four screen covered flow channels for fluid acquisition. Cavitation and thermal behavior was examined in ground based tests of the pump and of a full sized channel. A model for estimating the temperature profile at the pump inlet is presented. Large temperature increases in this region can significantly degrade the performance of the fountain pump.