For future NASA exploration missions, such as propulsion stages for long duration missions to asteroids or Mars, the storage time of cryogenic propellants must extend beyond half a day to multiple years in order to enable projected applications. For these missions to be successful, cryogenic temperatures down to 20 K must be achieved, while maintaining high heat capacities of 5 W or higher. This would be a signification leap from current state of art, and would lead to accomplishing near-zero boil-off rates for propellant cryogens. We will develop a cryocooler that accomplishes these goals, while also being light-weight, low vibration, long-lasting, and efficient. This novel cryocooler will progress the thermal control technology area, and will be a contribution towards reliably and efficiently enabling long duration storage of cryogenic systems, specifically for the long-term storage of hydrogen. The cryocooler will be suitable for integration into thermal control system approaches for future mission architectures, spacecraft, and operations.
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