中川 貴雄

日本初の赤外線天文衛星ASTRO-Fの打ち上げが近づいてきた.ASTRO-Fには極低温に冷却された口径67cmの望遠鏡が搭載され,高感度の赤外線天体観測を行う.具体的には,まず,波長50-200μmの遠赤外線領域において全天のサーベイ観測を行う.それに加えて,波長2-200μmの広い波長領域において個別天体の詳細観測を行う.これらの観測により,(1)銀河の誕生と進化,(2)星の一生と宇宙の化学進化との関わり,および(3)惑星系の形成機構の解明を目指す.

A two-stage Stirling cooler has been developed and tested for the infrared astronomical satellite ASTRO-F that is planned to be launched by Japanese M-V rocket in 2005. ASTRO-F has a hybrid cryogenic system that is a combination of superfluid liquid helium and two-stage Stirling coolers. The cooler has a new linear-ball-bearing system for the piston-supporting structure in a compressor. The linear-ball-bearing supporting system achieves the piston clearance seal, the long piston-stroke operation and the low frequency operation. The typical cooling power is 0.2W at 20 K and the total input power to the compressor and the cold head is below 90 W. The engineering, the prototype and the flight models of the cooler have been fabricated and evaluated to verify the capability for ASTRO-F. This paper describes the design of the cooler and the results from verification tests including cooler performance test, thermal vacuum test, vibration test and lifetime test.