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DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG is currently developing a new Thermal Protection System (TPS) for future reentry vehicles. This TPS is called Surface Protected Flexible Insulation (SPFI) and is aimed to protect the windward side of such vehicles against the high heat fluxes during earth atmosphere re-entry. This paper describes the design and development performed so far during the last few years. Further information about the pre-qualification program as well as preparations for in-flight qualification as experiment on X-34 are presented.

Surface materials exposed to low earth orbit environment for a prolonged time will be attacked by ultraviolet radiation and atomic oxygen. In combination with frequent thermal cycling the materials may change their structural and thermo-optical properties due to degradation and erosion resulting in an alteration of the initial surface morphology and chemistry. The stability of the materials can at best be investigated by direct exposure to the environment on a spacecraft. For this reason material exposition experiments (AOST and AOET) were organized on the European Retrievable Carrier EURECA and on the German SPACELAB D2 mission, respectively. This paper describes the thermal control coatings and the structural protective coatings investigated and the degradation results due to low earth orbit exposure

The use of carbon fiber reinforced composite materials in unit-carrying satellite radiator panels was studied. Different panel architectures and component materials were identified. The mass-specific heat rejection capability of the most promising of these configurations was analytically determined for different heat loads having either the stiffness or the strength of a reference configuration. The analytical results clearly define the optimum panel configuration under the different structural and thermal requirements. The panel configuration consisting of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) facesheets, aluminium honeycomb core and top-mounted aluminium heatpipes was found to be superior in a wide range of requirements and therefore selected as a reference concept. A flexible adhesive was used as the thermal interface between both components having significantly different thermal expansion coefficients.