Cryostat

NASA's WISE infrared instrument is kept cold by a cryostat. The cryostat can be seen at the top of the spacecraft.

A cryostat (from cryo meaning cold and stat meaning stable) is a device used to maintain low cryogenic temperatures of samples or devices mounted within the cryostat. Low temperatures may be maintained within a cryostat by using various refrigeration methods, most commonly using cryogenic fluid bath such as liquid helium.[1] Hence it is usually assembled into a vessel, similar in construction to a vacuum flask or Dewar. Cryostats have numerous applications within science, engineering, and medicine.

  1. ^ Frank Pobell: Matter and Methods at Low Temperatures. 3rd Edition, Springer 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-46356-6