NASA Lewis Research Center is developing the enabling technologies for a cryogenic power system in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and universities. In addition, creative processes that could expand industrial participation in this program are being explored, such as the Small Business Innovation Research Program

Dickman, John Ellis

NASA Technical Reports Server

Cryogenic Electronics in Support of Deep-
Space Missions 
Beyond the orbit of Mars, the average temperature seen by a spacecraft falls below the 
normal operating temperature range of the spacecraft's electronics. Presently, spacecraft 
operating in the cold environment of deep space carry onboard a large number of 
Radioisotope Heating Units to maintain an operating temperature for the electronics of 
approximately 300 K. This is not an ideal solution because the Radioisotope Heating Units 
are always producing heat, even when the spacecraft is already too hot, thus requiring an 
active thermal control system for the spacecraft. Those spacecraft with sufficient power 
reserves to use electrical heaters experience problems restarting after a hibernation period 
during which the electronics cool significantly below 70 K.
Solar intensity and space probe temperature.
Another approach to problems associated with the cold operating environment of deep 
space is to use cryogenic electronics to operate the spacecraft at the ambient temperature. 
This approach has several advantages: semiconductor devices are more efficient at lower 
temperatures than at room temperature; high-temperature superconductors can be 
integrated with semiconductors to reduce losses; and a simpler (lighter and cheaper), 
passive, heat-rejection system can be employed. It has one significant challenge: cryogenic 
power generation and storage.
NASA Lewis Research Center is developing the enabling technologies for a cryogenic 
power system in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and 
universities. In addition, creative processes that could expand industrial participation in 
this program are being explored, such as the Small Business Innovation Research 
Program.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20050179441 2019-08-29T19:50:02+00:00Z
Through a National Research Council Fellowship and a NASA Graduate Student 
Research Fellowship, demonstrations of two key technologies have been performed: high-
temperature superconductor components and cryogenic compound semiconductor switch 
technology. A dc-dc converter for low-temperature operation was designed, built, and 
characterized with commercial, off-the-shelf components and a custom-built 
superconducting inductor. A High Electron Mobility Transistor switch was designed, 
fabricated, and characterized at low temperatures. High Electron Mobility Transistor 
structures have the potential to handle high current loads at cryogenic temperatures. 
Although many silicon power devices that operate from room temperature to liquid 
nitrogen temperature (77 K) were used at NASA Lewis to build dc-dc converters which 
successfully operated over that temperature range, none of the commercial silicon or 
germanium transistors tested operated successfully significantly below 77 K. Therefore, 
compound semiconductor devices with the potential to operate over the temperature 
range of interest to deep-space missions (30 to 60 K) are being investigated by NASA 
Lewis.
Find out more about this research. 
Lewis contact: John Ellis Dickman, (216) 433-6150, John.E.Dickman@grc.nasa.gov 
Author: John Ellis Dickman 
Headquarters program office: OSAT


Cryogenic Electronics in Support of Deep-Space Missions

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