It is no secret that weight is a factor in the design of any aerospace component. Recently we were faced with a challenge when scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center asked us to assist in the design and fabrication of a lightweight magnetic shield for the Hamamatsu R877-100 Photomultiplier Tube (PMT). Although there are PMT shields commercially available, none were designed to be light enough for NASA’s application; flying two arrays totaling 168 of the magnetically shielded PMTs over Antarctica on a high altitude balloon, a.k.a. Super-TIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder).
Super-TIGER is a collaboration of scientists from NASA GSFC, JPL, Caltech, Washington University in St. Louis and University of Minnesota. The project is scheduled to make its first flight during the 2012 Austral Summer and aims to measure the abundance of elements heavier than iron in the galactic cosmic radiation.
Amuneal worked with researchers to fabricate a shield light enough for the flight but sturdy enough to be used as a part of the mechanical assembly of the instrument. After a few prototypes, a final design fabricated from a combination of .014” and .020” Amumetal was approved.
Whether your application rests on solid ground or floats somewhere between here and space, Amuneal’s technical staff can help.
(Super-TIGER Hamamatsu R877 PMT Shields)
