Air Force development of various types of space-based surveillance systems is expected to become increasingly important during the 1980's. Sensors carried on orbiting spacecraft can detect and track targets both in space and in the atmosphere. Those sensors which detect infrared radiation from a target and have higher sensitivity than present operational systems will require very low temperature (cryogenic) cooling of focal planes and optical elements in the sensor. For long duration missions, this cooling should be provided by direct, passive thermal radiation or by several types of closed cycle refrigerators (cryo-coolers) now being developed. The particular cooling method chosen depends on the required temperature, the amount of cooling needed, and other factors such as the satellite orbit and weight or size restrictions. This paper will describe the development status, and projected capabilities of several cryo-coolers being developed by the Flight Dynamics Laboratory for space applications.

Date Published: 27 July 1981
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 0280, Infrared Astronomy: Scientific/Military Thrusts and Instrumentation, (27 July 1981); doi: 10.1117/12.931950

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0280:
Infrared Astronomy: Scientific/Military Thrusts and Instrumentation
Nancy W. Boggess; Howard J. Stears, Editor(s)