Elf on the International Space Station

Elf on the International Space Station

From holidays it will not be possible to escape even in space! Of course, the members of the ISS celebrate festive dates at the orbital station, but it is psychologically difficult to stay far from relatives and friends. Therefore, astronauts are recommended to take items with them to make the situation more comfortable and homely.

One of these attributes was a toy elf, who arrived along with NASA astronaut McClain Ann Charlotte. On a particular photo, an elf poses next to MELFI - the ISS freezer. This is a versatile freezer for storage. Four compartments can be installed at different temperatures ranging from -98 ° C to + 4 ° C to save biological samples, such as blood and urine, which are delivered to Earth.

It was extremely difficult to create a freezer with such low temperatures that would not affect other standards of the orbital laboratory. The installation should be reliable and easy to maintain, energy efficient, quiet and have a negligible effect on the ISS microgravity environment. To satisfy all requirements, we chose a closed thermodynamic circuit using nitrogen gas and the Brighton mechanism rotating at a speed of more than 90000 revolutions per minute. Nitrogen gas is an ideal cooling agent, as it is abundant, odorless and does not react. In a closed system, it shrinks, cools and expands through the tubes surrounding the compartments.

What about the cold? Well, -98 ° C is much cooler than at the North Pole, so the space elf was literally at home. 3 MELFI: 2006, 2000 and 2010 were sent to the ISS, so the last model has been working for 12 years, surpassing the expected 10 years of functionality.

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