SIGNIFICANT EVENTS - FUTURE FLIGHT PROGRAM
03/24/00

DYNAMX Team Develops Tiny Valve

A new, low-mass cryogenic valve has been developed for the Critical Dynamics in Microgravity Experiment (DYNAMX) in a technical effort lead by Prof. Alex Babkin at the University of New Mexico. This normally-closed valve has a total mass of 1.5 g, and a dead volume of about 0.01 cubic centimeters. This is an extreme miniaturization from prior cryogenic valves which typically have a mass of about 200g. The miniature valve permits new applications on Earth orbit, where mass must be minimized in extremely energy-sensitive experiments such as DYNAMX.