The thermal control subsystem design, analysis, and test-verification that made possible the successful Clementine moon-mapping mission was indeed formidable in many respects, with very high ratios of requirements-to-available resources and performance-to-cost/mass, exacerbated by an unyielding tight schedule. Environments, requirements, program restrictions, design highlights, and lessons learned are presented. Emphasis is given to the sensor-bench payload and its unusual thermal components: three types of heat pipes (variable conductance, fixed conductance, and diode), a thermal-energy-storage beryllium block, and a multitude of flexible conducting straps. A description of the thermal design verification test emphasizes its unconventionally and lessons learned. Despite adverse schedule and cost-cutting effects on test hardware, planning, and execution, test data made possible thermal model refinements and important hardware design changes. Flight temperatures of the operating imaging sensors demonstrated success.
Citation: Kim, J. and Hyman, N., "Clementine Thermal Design and Verification Testing: Quick, Cheap, Unusual, Successful," SAE Technical Paper 961492, 1996, https://doi.org/10.4271/961492. Download Citation
Author(s):
Jeong H. Kim, Nelson L. Hyman
Affiliated:
Naval Research Laboratory
Pages: 13
Event:
International Conference On Environmental Systems
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Thermal management
Conductivity
Hardware
Imaging and visualization
Beryllium
Planning / scheduling
Sensors and actuators
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