Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory (USU SDL) announced in May 2022 that it has delivered a critical subsystem to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for integration onto the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The Cryogenic Thermal Subsystem for the Roman Coronagraph Instrument was delivered to JPL at SDL’s facilities on USU’s Innovation Campus. 

After 25 years in the high-tech cryogenics field, while employed at Cryogenic Technical Services (CTS) and High Precision Devices (HPD) and working with some of the best scientific minds in the world, Charlie Danaher started Danaher Cryogenics in early 2022 to respond to the ever-increasing demand for elegant, collaborative solutions to address the new cryogenic challenges. To paint a picture of Danaher Cryogenics’ offerings, a brief review of Charlie’s experience is in order.

Cryogenic fluid management systems use pumps, turbines, pipes (chilldown lines), valves/orifice, etc., operating at very low temperatures (below 120 K) that are at considerable risk of heat-inleak from ambient surroundings (300 K). This leads to the development of a multiphase environment, consisting of both liquid and vapor, and manifests as several bubbles that undergo intense growth and collapse (commonly known as cavitation). Cavitation damage is a well-known risk to equipment, often causing the failure of the entire cryogenic system. However, bubbles in cryogenic systems need not always be a threat. Our investigation reveals the useful nature of bubble oscillation and its potential for specific applications at liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperature. 

SNOLAB is Canada’s deep underground research laboratory, located two kilometers underground in Vale’s Creighton mine near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. SNOLAB is a unique facility, providing a low background environment designed for scientific research and operates a 5,000m2 underground campus as a class-2000 clean lab. While the science program is focused on astroparticle physics, the location is also well suited to biology, geology and low radiological studies. 

A half-mile-long tunnel under Menlo Park, Calif., has become colder than most of the universe because of a particle accelerator that slams electrons together here on Earth. Using the X-ray free-electron laser at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory – part of an upgrade project to the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) called LCLS II – scientists chilled liquid helium to -456 °F (-271 °C). That is just 2 kelvins above absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature at which all particle movement ceases. That frosty environment is crucial for the accelerator because at such low temperatures, the machine becomes superconducting, meaning it can boost electrons through it with near zero energy loss. Even empty regions of space aren't this cold, as they are still filled with the cosmic microwave background radiation, a remnant from shortly after the Big Bang that has a uniform temperature of -454 °F (-271 °C or 3 K). 

Since the days of NASA’s Apollo program, astronauts have documented (and contended with) how liquids like water behave differently in microgravity than they do on Earth – coalescing into floating spheres instead of bottom-heavy droplets. Now, researchers have demonstrated this effect with a much more exotic material: gas cooled to nearly absolute zero (-459 ºF or -273 ºC), the lowest temperature matter can reach. 

After standing down on the Artemis I launch attempt Saturday, Sept. 3 due to a hydrogen leak, teams have decided to replace the seal on an interface, called the quick disconnect, between the liquid hydrogen fuel feed line on the mobile launcher and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket while at the launch pad.

With the energy sector looking to decarbonize, the transition away from hydrocarbons is underway, with hydrogen taking center stage in many of the industry’s roadmaps. Georgia-based Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS) has responded to this interest by bolstering its offering of products and technologies that enable the industry to move away from hydrocarbons and toward clean energy solutions.

After three years of design and construction, a monthlong boat ride across the Pacific Ocean, and a lift from a 30-ton crane, the customized test chamber for NASA’s upcoming SPHEREx mission has finally reached its destination at Caltech’s Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pasadena.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. unveiled the Thermo Scientific Arctis Cryo-Plasma Focused Ion Beam (Cryo-PFIB), a new connected and automated microscope designed to advance the pace of cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) research. Cryo-ET makes it possible to study how proteins and other molecules operate together in a cellular context, at resolutions unsurpassed by other microscopy techniques, and has enormous potential for cell biology research, including the study of infectious disease, neurodegenerative disease, and other globally impactful structural biology applications. However, the process of preparing optimal samples for cryo-ET is still time-consuming and complex.

Around a mile below the surface in South Dakota, construction crews are hard at work excavating around 1,000 tons of rock per day. Their goal is to make room for a large underground facility that will house an international effort aimed at studying neutrinos—highly elusive subatomic particles that may hold the key to many of the universe’s secrets.

Two space tech companies, Helios and Eta Space, announced they are joining forces to solve the problem of oxygen in space. If humanity is to have a sustainable presence beyond Earth, reusable methane-fueled rocket systems need liquid oxygen at a ratio of 1:4, so the only cost-effective solution to refueling in orbit is to create and store oxygen on the Moon and on Mars.

Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and their collaborators have used DNA to overcome a nearly insurmountable obstacle to engineer materials that would revolutionize electronics. 

Previously, it has been impossible to capture the high-resolution images of nitrogenase, the only enzyme capable of reducing nitrogen into ammonia, during catalytic action. Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of California San Diego report near-atomic-resolution snapshots of nitrogenase during catalysis using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM). The results were published in the journal Science.

To journey and return from other planets, future spacecraft may have to do something they've never done before: refuel in space. Thanks to a Purdue University experiment, scientists are now beginning to understand how cryogenic liquids behave in zero-gravity, and how this affects the future operation of propellant depots in space. 

Vacuum technologies have advanced the field of cryogenics, allowing researchers to push the frontiers of what we know and businesses to apply that knowledge and drive innovation across a wide range of industries. The intersection of vacuum and cryogenic sciences is a demanding one. Pressure and temperature requirements create a playing field where only certain materials of construction and precise techniques and processes can play. Whether a component within a closed cryogenic system or a transfer link to be reused and repurposed, metal hoses are well suited for these exacting environments.