3 ms·
Only one instrument the MIRI needs active cooling. Rest is all passive cooling. It has a closed loop cooling system so it will not run out of refrigerant. Once
by pkaye 5y ago
Only one instrument the MIRI needs active cooling. Rest is all passive cooling. It has a closed loop cooling system so it will not run out of refrigerant. Once it runs out of fuel it will eventually drift out the L2 point and might lose orientation. They feel they can stretch the mission up to 20 years with the saved fuel. There is a port for refueling the craft in the future but the technology needs to built.
- causality0 5y agoWhy would it lose orientation? It has reaction wheels.
- racnid 5y agoThe simple answer is that you eventually have to do thruster burns to dump momentum from reaction wheels; they can't keep absorbing momentum forever. It also needs the fuel to adjust it's orbit every so often and keep it on station.