Spacecraft require a wide temperature range for survival and operations, with thermal control systems (TCS) keeping temperatures within specific limits via passive or active systems.
Examples of passive systems include paints, coatings and surface finishes which alter solar absorptivity or infrared emission on surfaces required to absorb or release environmental heat, as well as second-surface silver FEP tapes that act as radiator coatings to decrease any heat absorbed or generated.
Overview of the Space Environment
Space environments are complex systems of variables that influence every aspect of a spacecraft’s orbital mission. They include all near-Earth space (including its atmosphere and ionosphere) as well as any solar systems beyond Earth that come into contact.
Space can be an unforgiving place, with vacuum, extreme temperatures, and various radiation types that make for an unpredictable operating environment for spacecraft. These characteristics combine to make space a challenging place in which to operate spacecraft.
Space environments are at the core of astronautics, aerospace engineering, and physics research, offering researchers opportunities to investigate scientific questions that cannot be answered on Earth – such as propulsion phenomena and chemical reactions in microgravity environments – including biological effects and physical phenomena that require access to LEO environments or beyond.
Heat Transfer Processes in Space
Spacecraft thermal control systems ensure that physical and electrical components of satellites remain within their specified temperature range during their orbital lifetime, protecting delicate electronics from malfunctioning or reduced performance. Without such systems in place, satellites could potentially fail or reduce performance significantly.
Conduction is the primary mechanism for thermal transfer in spacecraft, as it involves direct heat flow between hot and cold regions. This process is subject to thermodynamic laws, requiring surfaces with distinct temperature differences, thermal gradient differences and surface area differentials for proper functioning.
Multilayer insulation (MLI) is the primary passive thermal control technology on spacecraft. MLI comprises foil-like blankets which reduce heat loss to the environment as well as excessive heating from sunlight.
Thermal Design Examples
Virtually every piece of sophisticated spacecraft equipment requires certain temperature ranges in order to function optimally, and it is the TCS’ responsibility to ensure these temperatures are maintained throughout all mission phases.
Design of a thermal control system depends heavily on both technology and functional requirements of spacecraft equipment as well as environmental conditions, leading to complicated TCS test and verification requirements.
Thermal design solutions typically involve multi-layered insulation to shield spacecraft from excessive solar or planetary heating or radiation cooling, coatings to modify thermo-optical properties of surface materials, and heat pipes for energy transport efficiency.
Thermal Design Techniques
Passive and active thermal control techniques can be employed to keep spacecraft components within their temperature limits. Thermal blankets (Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI)) and thermal straps are common passive methods.
These materials are specifically engineered to reduce solar and infrared radiation entering a spacecraft by blocking its view to the sun. This is achieved using layers with lower emissivity interspersed with durable outer layers; other designs use thermal louvers that can open or close to control surface IR emissivity levels and thus how much radiative heat dissipated. Unfortunately, full-sized louvers come with larger mass and power requirements, which is not ideal on smaller spacecraft.
Current Thermal Control Technologies
Most sophisticated spacecraft equipment is optimized to work most effectively and reliably within certain temperature limits, which necessitates that its TCS regulates temperatures to keep these within their required ranges and dissipate any excess heat that might exist.
Passive thermal control techniques such as blankets that reduce solar absorption and emissivity (or increase transparency and reflectivity) or thermal fillers which enhance thermal coupling between surface areas are all passive TCS methods; spacecraft may use electrical heaters when passive control is no longer an option, such as during eclipses or planetary missions.
Louvers can also be used for active thermal control, although their large size and power requirements restrict them to use on larger satellites. A SmallSat-adapted version of a full-sized louver can achieve similar thermal performance with much less mass and input power consumption.
Future Technologies
Satellites play an invaluable role in exploring space, monitoring Earth’s weather and environment, or providing fast and secure telecommunication services; therefore their performance must remain optimal throughout their lives. One factor which may impede this is ambient temperature – something many satellite manufacturers strive for optimal temperature levels within their satellites to maximize performance.
Thermal control systems protect electronics and instruments by controlling their temperatures, thus minimizing or eliminating excessive temperatures that could cause degradation or failure of equipment.
At this site, various passive and active thermal control techniques such as coatings, insulation, heat pipes, phase-change materials, conductive materials and actively pumped fluid loops are utilized to manage heat loading. Additionally, this book explores primary sources of heat loading while outlining how to design effective thermal management solutions.