Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Thermophysical Properties Test Lab 

Cryogenic Thermophysical Properties Test Laboratory.
Cryogenic Thermophysical Properties Test Laboratory.

Enabling Precision Thermal Property Testing for Space Missions and Engineering Projects

ETD’s Thermophysical Properties Lab Test facility provides Thermal Conductivity, Effective Emissivity and CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) measurements on test articles in between the temperatures of 4K and 300K. Following a series of requests by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project for testing of materials, the facility was stood up in 2016. Since then it has provided test support to projects such as Roman Space Telescope (RST), Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer (VIIRS), SPHEREx and NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Cryogenics Technical Discipline Teams (TDT) initiatives. 

The Thermophysical Properties Test Lab is managed by ETD’s
Instrument Systems and Technology Division (Code 550)