SPACECRAFT THERMAL CONTROL IS A CRITICAL ELEMENT TO MAINTAINING SPACECRAFT, MANNED, UNMANNED, ROBOTIC OR IN…

Public award description

SPACECRAFT THERMAL CONTROL IS A CRITICAL ELEMENT TO MAINTAINING SPACECRAFT, MANNED, UNMANNED, ROBOTIC OR INSTRUMENT, AT PROPER TEMPERATURES FOR HUMANS, INSTRUMENTS AND ELECTRONICS TO FUNCTION PROPERLY. NASA SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE AND STMD HAVE NEED FOR ADVANCED THERMAL CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR FUTURE SPACECRAFT AND EXPLORATION VEHICLES. VARIABLE GAS RADIATOR TECHNOLOGY, USING VARIABLE GAS CONDUCTANCE IN AN IMLI INSULATION TO CONTROL, IN A PHASE I PROTOTYPE ACHIEVED A TURNDOWN RATIO OF 36:1, WAS SUCCESSFULLY PROVEN FEASIBLE AND TRL3 ACHIEVED. QUEST BELIEVES VGR TECHNOLOGY COULD PROVIDE HIGH TURNDOWN RATIOS AT ANY GIVEN TEMPERATURE, IN A LIGHTWEIGHT RADIATOR. THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCT HAS MANY APPLICATIONS WITHIN NASA AND THE COMMERCIAL SPACECRAFT/SATELLITE MARKET. PHASE II WORK WILL CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT OF VGR TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING ENCLOSURE REDESIGN, MORE FLIGHT-LIKE PRESSURE CONTROL HARDWARE, EXTENSIVE CHARACTERIZATION, AND EARLY FLIGHT-QUAL TESTING. DURING PHASE II, QUEST WILL MATURE THE TECHNOLOGY TO TRL 5 AND HAVE PROTOTYPES FOR NASA AND PRIME CONTRACTOR EVALUATION. PHASE II DEVELOPMENT OF THE VARIABLE GAS RADIATOR (VGR) PROGRAM BEGINS STUDYING ADVANCED SPACECRAFT HEAT REJECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR NASA AND COMMERCIAL SPACECRAFT AND MISSIONS, CONTINUES WITH STUDY AND REVIEW OF THE PHASE I RESULTS. VGR ENCLOSURE AND HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT WILL BE A FOCUS. VCR DESIGN WILL BE ITERATED, AND PROTOTYPES TESTED FOR RADIANT HEAT FLOW, WITH IMPROVEMENT EXPECTED IN OVERALL RADIATOR PERFORMANCE AND TURNDOWN CAPABILITY.