FOSSIL: Thermo-mechanical architecture
Abstract
FOSSIL (FTS fOr CMB Spectral diStortIon expLoration) is a proposed ESA M8 mission tailored to measure the spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with a sensitivity three orders of magnitude beyond the COBE/FIRAS legacy measurement. Achieving this sensitivity demands an extraordinarily challenging cryogenic architecture: the scientific instrument must be maintained at the lowest achievable temperature (4.5 K), while the detector focal plane assembly operates at 50 mK. This paper presents the thermal architecture of the FOSSIL payload and instrument, from the spacecraft service module at 293 K down to the sub-kelvin detector stage. The thermal design draws on heritage from the Planck and ARIEL missions and relies on a staged passive cooling chain comprising a multi-layer insulation blanket, three V-groove radiators (operating at approximately 130 K, 90 K, and 50 K), and a 25 K actively cooled shield fed by an ESA-provided 4 K cryocooler chain. Sub-kelvin temperatures are achieved via a multi-stage adiabatic demagnetisation refrigerator (ADR) system developed for NewAthena/X-IFU, providing continuous cooling at 1.8 K and 350 mK, and 50 mK with an 80% duty cycle. The Focal Plane Assembly (FPA), which houses four Kinetic Inductance Detector (KID) arrays at 50 mK, is thermally isolated from the 4.5~K bench via a carbon-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) hexapod structure with staged heat interception. We present the steady-state thermal budget across all stages, demonstrating comfortable margins at every temperature level, and discuss key thermal design drivers on the Blackbody Internal Reference (BBIR).
Related
- Protostellar evolution of intermediate-mass stars: Implications for the survival of fossil magnetic fields
- Something green beneath the surface: The dynamical nature of fossil structures in IllustrisTNG-100
- The black hole occupation fraction as a fossil record of seeding, dynamics, and galaxy assembly
- Mass-Metallicity Relation of the Fossil Disk in Six Nearby Galaxies using JWST RGB Stars
- Is the Nuclear Star Cluster a Bulge Fossil Fragment?
BibTeX
@misc{sauvage2026fossil,
title = {{FOSSIL: Thermo-mechanical architecture}},
author = {Valentin Sauvage and Clémence de Jabrun and Sylvain Martin and Bruno Maffei and Nabila Aghanim and Anaïs Besnard and Bruno Borgo and Ivan Charles and Xavier Coulon and Sandrine Couturier and Francesco Cuttaia and Jean-Marc Duval and Morgane Loquet Le Gall and Giorgio Savini and Luca Terenzi and Berend Winter},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.15165},
eprint = {2609.15165},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05782745v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - FOSSIL: Thermo-mechanical architecture
AU - Valentin Sauvage
AU - Clémence de Jabrun
AU - Sylvain Martin
AU - Bruno Maffei
AU - Nabila Aghanim
AU - Anaïs Besnard
AU - Bruno Borgo
AU - Ivan Charles
AU - Xavier Coulon
AU - Sandrine Couturier
AU - Francesco Cuttaia
AU - Jean-Marc Duval
AU - Morgane Loquet Le Gall
AU - Giorgio Savini
AU - Luca Terenzi
AU - Berend Winter
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/14
PB - HAL
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.15165
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05782745v1
AB - FOSSIL (FTS fOr CMB Spectral diStortIon expLoration) is a proposed ESA M8 mission tailored to measure the spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with a sensitivity three orders of magnitude beyond the COBE/FIRAS legacy measurement. Achieving this sensitivity demands an extraordinarily challenging cryogenic architecture: the scientific instrument must be maintained at the lowest achievable temperature (4.5 K), while the detector focal plane assembly operates at 50 mK. This paper presents the thermal architecture of the FOSSIL payload and instrument, from the spacecraft service module at 293 K down to the sub-kelvin detector stage. The thermal design draws on heritage from the Planck and ARIEL missions and relies on a staged passive cooling chain comprising a multi-layer insulation blanket, three V-groove radiators (operating at approximately 130 K, 90 K, and 50 K), and a 25 K actively cooled shield fed by an ESA-provided 4 K cryocooler chain. Sub-kelvin temperatures are achieved via a multi-stage adiabatic demagnetisation refrigerator (ADR) system developed for NewAthena/X-IFU, providing continuous cooling at 1.8 K and 350 mK, and 50 mK with an 80% duty cycle. The Focal Plane Assembly (FPA), which houses four Kinetic Inductance Detector (KID) arrays at 50 mK, is thermally isolated from the 4.5~K bench via a carbon-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) hexapod structure with staged heat interception. We present the steady-state thermal budget across all stages, demonstrating comfortable margins at every temperature level, and discuss key thermal design drivers on the Blackbody Internal Reference (BBIR).
ER -