Lightweight Insulation Materials for On-orbit Thermal Management

Advanced Materials Technology, Inc responds to the DoD needs to develop an innovative robust thermal insulation technology to insulate cryogenic temperature-sensitive space systems and components. Sensitive cryogenic structures and their subsystems need to be protected from direct solar heating, earth's albedo, and internal heating. The Current state-of-art insulation technology is totally based on Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) Blankets. However, they suffer from many drawbacks including being extremely labor intensive and on-orbit durability issues. We propose to develop a robust capable thermal blanket technology that will be space qualified, lightweight, produce no outgassing, and have extremely low thermal conductivity. Our technology will enable the STSS optical track telescope and the SBL to minimize power consumption while maintaining critical temperature control of key components without exceeding launch vehicle lift capabilities. The proposed program will focus on developing new multifunctional polyimide foam materials for on-orbit thermal management, which will be capable of retaining structural integrity while accommodating large operating temperatures ranging from cryogenic (-250 C) to elevated (350 C) temperatures conditions. Once the feasibility of the proposed concept is demonstrated in Phase I, we shall scale-up this concept in a Phase II program to meet DoD requirements.