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Title: The ASTROMAG superconducting magnet facility configured for a free flying satellite

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5481918

ASTROMAG is a particle astrophysics facility that was originally configured for the Space Station. The heart of the ASTROMAG facility is a large superconducting magnet which is cooled using superfluid helium. The task of resizing the facility so that it will fly in a satellite in a high angle of inclination orbit is driven by the launch weight capability of the launch rocket and the desire to be able to do nearly the same physics as the Space Station version of ASTROMAG. In order to reduce the launch weight, the magnet and its cryogenic system had to be downsized, yet the integrated field generated by the magnet in the particle detectors has to match the Space Station version of the magnet. The use of aluminum matrix superconductor and oriented composite materials in the magnet insulation permits one to achieve this goal. The net magnetic dipole moment from the ASTROMAG magnet must be small to minimize the torque due to interaction with the earth's magnetic field. The ASTROMAG magnet consists of identical two coils 1.67 meters apart. The two coils are connected in series in persistent mode. Each coil is designed to carry 2.34 million ampere turns. Both coils are mounted on the same magnetic axis and they operate at opposite polarity. This reduces the dipole moment by a factor of more than 1000. This is tolerable for the Space Station version of the magnet. A magnet operating on a free flying satellite requires additional compensation. This report presents the magnet parameters of a free flying version of ASTROMAG and the parameters of the space cryogenic system for the magnet. 12 refs., 6 figs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
5481918
Report Number(s):
LBL-30773; CONF-9106134-1; ASTROMAG-034; ON: DE91014710; CNN: 556472-D
Resource Relation:
Conference: Space cryogenics workshop, Cleveland, OH (United States), 18-20 Jun 1991
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English