Deployable Articulating Radiator Thermal Control for ORS Satellites

Thermal control systems are one of the large hurdles in the development of rapidly deployed spacecraft. The solicitation discusses the goal of achieving a 6-day mission capability from initial request. This ambitious task will require a thermal management system that is flexible, modular and is rapidly assembled with high reliability. ORS requires the thermal control system to handle a range of 50 to 400 watts. Thermal Management Technologies (TMT) proposes to leverage currently developing isothermal panel technology along with a newly developed thermal articulating hinge to meet these varying loads. The new deployed articulating radiator thermal control system will be modular, light weight, and easy to integrate. The technology has minimal inactive mass and varies the radiating surface area to meet radiative cooling needs in order to control the spacecraft temperature. This technology will not only support the ORS thermal control system challenges and requirements but we anticipate this will have wide capability for use in the aerospace community. BENEFIT: TMT anticipates that upon successful development and environmental qualification of this deployable, articulating radiator thermal control unit there will be many sectors of DoD, NASA, and commercial space interested in the technology. The primary benefits of this thermal control technology are: tie-in to isothermal bus technology, reliability, being adaptable to variable heat loads, modularity, rapid assembly, and light weight.