Innovative Manufacturing Processes

Space-Based Radar is a new major defense acquisition program started in 2001. The main program objective is to field, beginning in 2008, a space borne capability for theater commanders to track moving targets. The 2003 focus includes technology riskreduction and concept development. Consistent with this focus, k Technology (kTC), under contract to a systems prime, has performed trade studies for development of a manufacturable and affordable high performance cold shield for satellites. The shieldis designed to satisfy both the structural and thermal management requirements of a space based platform. These studies show use of encapsulated annealed pyrolytic graphite (APG) for cold shield panels reduces weight and delta temperature relative toaluminum panels by up to 31% and 69%, respectively. However, the relatively large (1m x 1m) APG panel assemblies have substantial manufacturing process risk. To enable their use, kTC proposes to develop and verify a low-risk process to make largepanels and concomitantly develop structurally efficient panel joints with low thermal resistance. To this end, working with the systems prime, kTC will develop cold shield requirements, identify viable designs/processes, develop a joining technique,design and build a assembly for salient tests, and demonstrate the viability through testing. Under the proposed effort, the successful fabrication of a portion of a satellite cold shield will show that large, high thermal conductivity panels can beproduced and assembled into high performance structures such as the cold shield. The evaluation of the panels will provide actual performance data of the concept. This data will be used to improve the design, analysis, and fabrication process of flightpanels. The design and analysis of a cold shield panel joint will provide know-how to efficiently manufacture and join two large flat panels of encapsulated APG. Moreover, the evaluation of the joints will provide actual performance data of the concept.In doing the foregoing, the cost and risk of fabricating and assembling large panels with high thermal conductance will be reduced. Consequently, the high payoff technology will become attractive to system primes for specific targeted MDA spaceprograms. In addition, these data will be used to improve the design and analysis of future panel assemblies. The large panels assemblies can be used in a wide variety of aerospace applications such as telecommunications satellites and therefore have asignificant market potential.