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Due to the very small displacements that the LISA Pathfinder payload will measure, (in the order of 10-8 meters) the LPF mission has been designed to minimise the sources of physical disturbance to the payload sensor. However small scale disturbances (e.g. solar flux noise) can not be completely removed by mission design and the effects of these disturbances must be understood. A Power Spectral Density (PSD) thermal analysis has been employed to demonstrate the thermal stability of the spacecraft remains within specified limits between 0.1 and 0.001Hz). This paper discusses the thermal considerations and trade-offs which are important in the design of this mission, and examines the effect of thermal noise sources on the payload.

The ExoMars mission is one of two flagship missions in the Aurora programme, the European Space Agency's programme for long term exploration of Mars. The aim of ExoMars is to characterise the biological environment on Mars for future missions and to further explore the exobiology - search for life - on Mars. The project includes a Mars orbiting satellite and ground experiments. The ground experiments are carried on a wheeled Mars Rover vehicle, which comprises a service module and the 40kg Pasteur payload module containing the sample analysis packages and sample collection and transport systems. The ExoMars mission is due to be launched in 2009. The Rover will be built to operate autonomously and travel several kilometres over the Martian surface, carrying out in-situ soil sample analyses, and identifying and characterising possible hazards to future human exploration.

The variety of thermal design and analysis software tools available on the international market is wide, with a number of different ‘standards’ for the space industry. The major tools include the ubiquitous SINDA in its many forms, TRASYS, ESATAN, ESARAD, THERMICA, Thermal Desktop, IDEAS-TMG, and the list goes on. Within this landscape, there is very little compatibility from one tool to another, and few translators to allow seamless transfer from one tool to another. To add to this complexity, equipment subcontractors whose main business is not within the space industry tend to use non-specialist software for their thermal analysis, often doubling up with their structural analysis tools such as Nastran, Ansys, etc. As a spacecraft systems thermal engineer, this wide variety of tools and model formats can lead to significant time spent translating and coordinating delivered thermal mathematical models to create the overall system level model.

MetOp is a series of three meteorology and climate monitoring satellites, which will be launched using the Russian Soyuz-Fregat vehicle over a period of 14 years starting in 2005. MetOp will form part of the American ‘Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites’ (POES) programme, a further step in European/American collaboration in space. The MetOp satellites will fly in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of between 800 and 850km, with a repeat cycle of 29 days. The satellite is based on the successful Spot platform, which has carried a number of European earth observation satellites over the last 15 years, and consists of two parts: 1. The Payload Module (or PLM) which carries twelve instruments, provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the French space agency, CNES. 2.

Envisat is the largest and most ambitious earth observation spacecraft in the history of European space exploration. The Envisat spacecraft is funded by the European Space Agency, ESA, and was designed and built by Astrium. It carries a unique combination of instruments and sensors to make scientific measurements of our planet. Among the wide range of information being gathered, Envisat is looking at clouds, atmospheric temperature and composition, land temperature and topography, vegetation, flooding and fires, sea temperature and currents, global circulation, pollution and traffic, sea ice mapping and movement. Its total range of capabilities represents a significant advance over the previous generation of Earth observation spacecraft. Envisat was launched on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle on March 1st 2002, and flies in a sun-synchronous near polar obit at an inclination of 98° and an altitude of 800km, providing an orbital period of 101 minutes with a repeat cycle of 35 days.

BepiColombo is a scientific mission to explore the planet Mercury. The mission is made up of two orbiters and a lander. The BepiColombo mission is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is their ‘Cornerstone 5’ mission. Astrium is leading one of the two study contracts awarded by ESA, and Astrium UK is responsible for the design of the lander element, including the descent and landing systems. The lander will allow the gathering of scientific data on the characteristics and features of the Hermean landscape for the first time. The BepiColombo spacecraft will take three years to reach Mercury, and the orbiters will operate for several months. The lander is required to operate for a minimum of seven days. The thermal environment on the planet surface is very severe due to the proximity to the sun and the orbital properties of Mercury. This paper will discuss the issues surrounding the thermal design of the BepiColombo lander element.