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On-Orbit Performance of the TES Pulse Tube Cryocooler System and the Instrument - Six Years in SpaceThe Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument pulse tube cryocoolers began operation 36 days after launch of the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura spacecraft on July 15, 2004. TES is designed with four infrared Mercury Cadmium Telluride focal plane arrays in two separate housings cooled by a pair of Northrup Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) single-stage pulse tube cryocoolers. The instrument also makes use of a two-stage passive cooler to cool the optical bench. The instrument is a high-resolution infrared imaging Fourier transform spectrometer with 3.3-15.4 micron spectral coverage. After four weeks of outgassing, the instrument optical bench and focal planes were cooled to their operating temperatures to begin science operations. During the early months of the mission, ice contamination of the cryogenic surfaces including the focal planes led to increased cryocooler loads and the need for periodic decontamination cycles. After a highly successful 5 years of continuous in-space operations, TES was granted a 2 year extension. This paper reports on the TES cryogenic system performance including the two-stage passive cooler. After a brief overview of the cryogenic design, the paper presents detailed data on the highly successful space operation of the pulse tube cryocoolers and instrument thermal design over the past six years since the original turn-on in 2004. The data shows the cryogenic contamination decreased substantially to where decontamination cycles are now performed every six months. The cooler stroke required for constant-temperature operation has not increased indicating near-constant cooler efficiency and the instrument's thermal design has also provided a nearly constant heat rejection sink. At this time TES continues to operate in space providing important Earth science data.
Document ID
20150006616
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Rodriguez, J. I.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Na-Nakornpanom, A.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
April 24, 2015
Publication Date
June 13, 2011
Subject Category
Engineering (General)
Environment Pollution
Instrumentation And Photography
Meeting Information
Meeting: Cryogenic Engineering Conference and International Cryogenic Materials Conference (CEC-ICMC 2011)
Location: Spokane, WA
Country: United States
Start Date: June 13, 2011
End Date: June 17, 2011
Sponsors: Department of Energy, Fermi National Accelerator Lab.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
cryocoolercraft
cryocontamination
Earth Observing System (EOS)
interferometert
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)
Aura spacecraft
pulse tubecraft
remote sensing

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