Ricor’s Yoav Zur holding a K508 cryocooler, the same one used in
the Curiosity’s CheMin instrument shown on his computer screen.
Seven years ago, a buyer from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in California – which manages US space agency assignments
— called Yoav Zur to inquire about a miniature cryogenic cooler
made by Ricor Cryogenic and Vacuum Systems at Kibbutz Ein Harod
Ihud in northern Israel. Zur, the marketing manager for the
company, was told that the cryogenic cooler was needed for a
future Mars mission to keep the CheMin chemical mineral
detector, critical to the analysis of the soil on the Red
Planet, chilled to minus 173 degrees Celsius. • Email this
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press It was not the first time Ricor cryocoolers had been
purchased for space missions, so Zur facilitated the order
without asking too many questions. “We knew the K50