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The advantages of a space deployable radiator are among others to permit increase of dissipated power by enlarging the dissipative area from stowed to deployed configuration. The concept developed by AEROSPATIALE and CNES has also the advantage to permit reuse of existing platforms without necessity of an entirely re-designed architecture of the spacecraft. This concept is based essentially on: a deployable panel of hinged type where the power is spread over the surface by means of embedded heat pipes a thermal rotating joint coaxial with the panel hinge. The prototype model has a radiator panel of 800 × 600 mm with five embedded heat pipes and two radiative faces capability. In the hot case, corresponding at Summer or Winter Solstice for geosynchronous communication satellites the capability is about 160W, while the temperature of internal unit is maintained at + 30°C.

The ARD capsule is a European Space Agency project, designed and developed in very limited budget and schedule. These constraints had induced a particular strategy for Thermal Architecture activities: to decouple Thermal Protections Subsystem activities and Internal Thermal Control activities. The necessary relationships between the two fields have been achieved through interfaces data exchanges. These exchanges have been managed to guarantee the Vehicle Thermal Architecture coherence and to avoid risky conditions at system level. The consequence is important margins on the thermal design of the capsule. This is possible on this type of prototype where optimization is not required. Extension of such a process has to be considered cautiously.