Space Payloads Department · INTA, Madrid
Physicist and instrumentation engineer working on cryogenic test facilities for space instrumentation. Twenty years of laboratory work across active vibration control, tyre dynamics, aeroacoustics and laboratory astrophysics.
About
Cristóbal González Díaz is a physicist whose work spans instrumentation, automation, signal processing, data analysis and active control, applied to space, astrophysics, sound and vibration. He combines laboratory research with R&D project management, writes European research proposals and serves as an expert evaluator for the European Commission.
Since February 2025 he has been an instrumentation engineer in the Space Payloads Department of INTA (Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial). As AIV and systems test engineer for the ATHENA X-IFU instrument and the FICS project, he leads the integration and verification of ground-support cryostats, runs leak-tightness and vacuum verification, and develops cryogenic thermal test protocols and LabVIEW data-acquisition software.
From 2017 to 2024 he worked at the Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA). He measured the thermal conductivity and calorimetry of frozen salt solutions for ESA’s JUICE mission, built a compact high-vacuum chamber to estimate ice porosity with ultrasound, and automated the ISAC ultra-high-vacuum chamber (base pressure 10⁻¹¹ mbar, cold finger at 8 K) used to study the photodesorption of interstellar ice analogues.
Before that he held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Intra-European Fellowship at CSIC in Madrid (ACOCTIA), was an experienced researcher at the Goodyear Innovation Center in Luxembourg (TIRE-DYN) and at KU Leuven (SMART STRUCTURES), and completed his PhD at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research in Southampton within the European Doctorate in Sound and Vibration Studies (EDSVS).
He works in Spanish, English and French.
Career
AIV and systems test engineer for the ATHENA X-IFU instrument and the FICS project (Integrated Insulation for Cryogenic Systems): ground-cryostat integration and verification, leak and vacuum testing, cryogenic thermal test protocols, LabVIEW data acquisition with Fluke 2638A and Lakeshore 224/336 controllers.
Thermal properties of ices for JUICE (ESA contract); ultrasonic porosity chamber; laser-interference ice thickness set-up; automation of the ISAC chamber and its cryostat. María de Maeztu fellow (2019–2022).
Coordinator of the ACOCTIA fellowship on cavity-tone noise; automation and calibration of a 4.5 × 7.5 × 4.5 m hydroacoustic test tank.
Experienced researcher in TIRE-DYN: new test set-up and experimental and numerical analysis of rolling-tyre dynamics.
Experienced researcher in SMART STRUCTURES: design and construction of a transmission suite for vibro-acoustic characterisation of lightweight panels (50–10 000 Hz).
PhD and postdoctoral research on active structural acoustic control, including decentralised velocity feedback on a Bombardier Dash-8 fuselage section. Administration of the EDSVS programme.
Readout electronics for a multi-wire chamber (gamma camera) and a 20 MHz driver for a micro-channel plate.
Projects
Four EU-funded Marie Curie projects, from PhD training network to individual fellowship.
FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF · Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship
Active Control Of Cavity Tones In Aircraft
Reduction of airframe noise from landing-gear cavities: the tones produced by fluid-dynamic or fluid-resonant oscillation. The project combined micro-perforated linings with active control and validated them in an anechoic chamber.
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IAPP · Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways
Experimental and numerical analyses of the dynamic behaviour of rolling tyres to improve tyre modelling accuracy
Industry–academia partnership to understand how rolling changes tyre vibration, for noise and comfort. Cristóbal built a new test set-up for rolling-tyre dynamics, ran experimental and numerical analyses, and organised the first Tire-Dyn public workshop (Leuven, 2011).
FP6 Marie Curie Research Training Network
A computer aided engineering approach to smart structures design
Training network that brought smart materials research to system level for active noise and vibration control and vibration-based damage detection. Cristóbal designed and built a transmission suite to measure the insertion loss of lightweight panels under airborne and structure-borne excitation.
FP6 Marie Curie Host Fellowships for Early Stage Research Training
European Doctorate in Sound and Vibration Studies
Doctoral training programme in sound and vibration that hosted 126 PhD students across eight European institutions. Cristóbal completed his PhD on active structural acoustic control within it and helped run the programme’s reporting to the European Commission and its website.
Within the X-IFU consortium, INTA is building a 2 K ground cryostat to verify and validate the instrument’s focal-plane assembly before it is integrated in the flight unit. The C2CC (Cryostat 2K Core Calibration) was designed to calibrate the X-IFU X-ray detectors on ESA’s ATHENA mission; after the mission was reprogrammed it will become a permanent INTA facility open to the scientific community. Its pendulum-type inner structure has 90 K, 4 K and 2 K stages, cooled by three cryocoolers and a Joule-Thomson system, and hangs inside a steel shell on a pneumatic anti-vibration mount. Integration and verification are planned to finish by the end of 2026.
INTA is part of the X-IFU consortium and built an elegant breadboard of the instrument’s cryostat, which holds the focal plane at 2 K. Building on that experience, IRAP and CNES asked INTA to develop a second cryostat to verify and validate the focal-plane assembly before it is integrated in the flight unit, the only opportunity to test the heart of X-IFU. The cryostat meets the flight unit’s insulation and cooling requirements without its mass and power limits. The project also studies multifunctional structures that combine electromagnetic and thermal insulation with good mechanical properties.
Coordinated laboratory study of the link between the properties of ice analogues (density, porosity, optical properties, binding energies) and the processes they undergo under heating or UV irradiation in interstellar, circumstellar and icy-moon conditions, building a laboratory database to interpret JWST observations of ices. Project page
Second ESA contract on the thermal and dielectric properties of frozen salt solutions representative of the ice shells of Jupiter’s moons, in support of future radar measurements by JUICE and Europa Clipper. The thermal-conductivity results were published in MNRAS 510 (2022). Publication
First ESA contract to measure the thermal conductivity and dielectric properties of frozen salt solutions representative of the ice shells of Jupiter’s moons, to support future radar measurements by the JUICE and Europa Clipper missions.
Excellence programme on the origin, presence and influence of life in the universe, organised around planetology and habitability, molecular evolution, advanced instrumentation, and astrophysics and astrochemistry. Project page
Ice porosity records how an ice formed and evolved, and it affects both chemistry and infrared observations. The project developed a method to estimate porosity from an ultrasonic pulse sent through a layer about 10 µm thick, deposited below 10 K in an ultra-high-vacuum chamber, first on water ice and then on little-studied ices such as CO. Project page
Commercial industrial robots are precise enough for non-destructive testing, but as closed systems they cannot synchronise their motion with data acquisition. The project used an independent external system to synchronise any industrial robot with any ultrasonic imaging system. Project page
Experiments in the ISAC ultra-high-vacuum chamber on the UV photodesorption and photochemistry of interstellar ice analogues, in collaboration with Université Pierre et Marie Curie and the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (France). Automating acquisition and processing shortened experiments and allowed the measured dissociation and desorption rates to be compared across molecular components.
Finite-element model of the vibration of bimorph piezoelectric membranes and of their coupling in a water-loaded array, validated with laser-interferometry vibration measurements and 3D hydrophone scans of the acoustic pressure field.
Output
Articles, conference contributions, reports and theses. Type to filter the list as you go.
C2CC is a ground cryostat originally designed to calibrate the X-ray detectors of the X-IFU instrument on ESA’s ATHENA mission. After the mission was reprogrammed, it will become a permanent INTA facility open to the scientific community. The engineering challenges are thermal insulation and ultra-high vacuum, a mean temperature of 2 K, and isolation from parasitic loads caused by vibration and electromagnetic disturbances. A room-temperature steel shell rests on a pneumatic anti-vibration system and holds a pendulum-type inner structure with three stages (90 K, 4 K and 2 K), cooled by three cryocoolers, one of them coupled to a Joule-Thomson system to reach 2 K. Integration follows three phases: the outer vacuum shell (phase 1) is complete; phase 2 adds the cryogenic and Joule-Thomson systems; phase 3 integrates the inner pendulum, thermal straps, heat switches, sensors and harness. Vacuum tests with a rotary pump reached 5 × 10⁻² mbar, and turbomolecular-pump tests targeting 10⁻⁶ mbar are under way. Integration and verification are planned to finish before the end of 2026. Funded by project PID2020-115325GB-C31 (MCIN/AEI).
INTA has designed and is integrating a 4 K low-vibration ground cryostat, a key facility to enhance the cryogenic thermomechanical capabilities of the Space Payloads Department, enabling the characterization of cryogenic instruments, components and new materials for space applications. To meet the stringent requirements of the 4 K facility, a test-bench cryostat has also been designed and manufactured to characterize cryocoolers, test development prototypes and validate components before their integration into the main cryostat. Both systems were presented at the workshop, highlighting the design, manufacturing and testing of ultra-flexible thermal straps and passive thermal switches, together with a custom Joule-Thomson 2 K pot. This component is tailored for the 4 K main facility cryostat to extend its operational range, reaching 2 K with a 150 mW thermal refrigeration capacity. Supported by Grant PID2020-115325GB-C31 (MCIN/AEI).
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Contact
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