Authors: Tim Rehm, Lee Bernard, Andrea Bocchieri, Nat Butler, Quentin Changeat, Azzurra D'Alessandro, Billy Edwards, John Gamaunt, Qian Gong, John Hartley, Kyle Helson, Logan Jensen, Daniel P. Kelly, Kanchita Klangboonkrong, Annalies Kleyheeg, Nikole Lewis, Steven Li, Michael Line, Stephen F. Maher, Ryan McClelland, Laddawan R. Miko, Lorenzo Mugnai, Peter Nagler, C. Barth Netterfield, Vivien Parmentier, Enzo Pascale, Jennifer Patience, Javier Romualdez, Subhajit Sarkar, Paul A. Scowen, Gregory S. Tucker, Augustyn Waczynski, Ingo Waldmann
SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montréal, Québec, Canada
The EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE) is an instrument dedicated to measuring spectroscopic phase curves of extrasolar giant planets. EXCITE will carry a moderate resolution near-infrared spectrograph and will fly on a long duration balloon mission. We give an overview of the mechanical and thermal design and development status of the EXCITE cryogenic receiver. Active cooling for the EXCITE cryostat is provided by two linear pulse-tube cryocoolers. We discuss cryocooler thermal performance, integration of the spectrometer and detector, and the mounting scheme that attaches the cryostat to the backplate of the telescope. To reject heat power from the cryocoolers, gravity-assisted copper-methanol thermosyphons will maintain cryocooler temperatures within 20 ◦C of ambient temperature during operation. We discuss the results of preliminary thermal modeling of the thermosyphons as well as performance testing of a prototype built for in-lab verification.