Our friends at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, in collaboration with other institutions, have published a Request for Information (RFI) for The Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) 4 K Spaceflight Cryocooling System.
BHEX is a space very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) mission aimed at performing black hole precision measurements and capturing an image of a black hole's photon ring. To achieve this, the BHEX instrument receiver system requires a 4 K space cryocooling system to cool the receivers. Your company may be the ideal partner for the job!
Interested parties are invited to respond to the RFI by July 1, 2024. Please provide details on your 4 K spaceflight cryocooling technology's performance, spaceflight capabilities, and cost estimates. Your expertise could propel groundbreaking discoveries in astrophysics.
“This is an incredibly exciting mission for the astrophysics community, and cryogenics plays a pivotal role in making it a reality!” –Hannah Rana, BHEX Cryogenics Co-Lead
Please contact the following for more information, responses, questions or for forwarding supporting information:
Rebecca Baturin, BHEX Instrument Project Manager
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Office: (617) 496 7707
100 Acorn ParkDrive | MS 5 | Cambridge, MA 02140
Janice Houston, BHEX Instrument Systems Engineer
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Office: (617) 495 2818
Image Credit: Joseph Farah