Institute of Physics of Materials AS CR, v. v. i. > Projects > Characterisation of Thermal and Mechanical Performance of SIM Cryostat Straps

---

Characterisation of Thermal and Mechanical Performance of SIM Cryostat Straps

Anotace

The project CRYostat Straps for Athena (CRYSA). The ATHENA mission is selected as the second Large-class mission of ESA’s Science Programme, with expected launch date in 2034. It will be a next-generation X-ray telescope with unprecedented resolution of spatially-resolved X-ray spectroscopy and wide-field X-ray spectral imaging. In order to reach this performance, the instrumentation will be accommodated in the Science Instruments Module (SIM), the centre of which needs to be cooled down to cryogenic temperatures of 2 K. This is achieved by the ATHENA SIM Cryostat. It is based on a Russian-doll configuration using a number of thermal shields in a suspension structure based on mechanical straps, in order to hold all the different shields at different temperatures from the room temperature down to 2 K. These straps must provide sufficient stiffness while minimizing the conductive heat loads between each stage. The main technical objectives of the proposed project are: To identify the best candidate materials for cryogenic straps, fulfilling both thermal and mechanical requirements (i.e., low thermal conductivity, high stiffness). To perform the thermal conductance measurement on samples of 2 selected materials, in the temperature range envisaged for ATHENA cryostat (from 300 K to 4 K). To perform mechanical properties characterization at room temperature on samples made of materials selected for thermal measurements above.