ANOTHER STEP FORWARD FOR LEVISOLATOR
ESA visits MAG SOAR facilities to monitor the recent advances of the project
Levisolator is creating a completely new support system based on magnetic bearings technology that would eventually be installed on the cryostat of ESA ATHENA mission, an advanced X-ray telescoped designed to address the Cosmic Vision gas structures.
MAG SOAR leads a consortium with Universidad de Alcalá and the Universidade de Lisboa which is currently developing the Levisolator project. MAG SOAR engineers exposed the last updates and technical data to the ESA agents.
The use of magnetic bearings in extreme temperature environments can be crucial to improve isolation, cleanliness and lifetime of the mechanisms and prevent wear or lubrication issues. This makes satellites and space telescopes the perfect candidates to benefit from the advantages provided by contactless magnetic systems.
Athena telescope development could be key in order to unravel some of the universe biggest mysteries such as how does ordinary matter assemble into large-scale structures or how do black holes grow and shape the Universe.
