Aerospace

Aerospace Applications

Spacecraft

• Stirling Orbiter Refrigeration / Freezer (SOR/F)
• Loop Heat Pipe Flight Experiment
• Timeband Cature Cell Experiment (TICCE)
• Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS)
• Unfurlable Heat Pipe for Lunar Radiator
• SP-100
• Prometheus
• Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO)  

Advanced Applications

• Moving Gradient Furnace
• Epitaxy Susceptor
• Niobium Rocket Nozzle
• Laminate Metal / Ceramic Composite
• On-Chip Cooling and Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) Matching    

Satellite Thermal Control Trends

With the ever-increasing demand for national, international and military space-based communications in parallel with the evolution of space electronics (miniaturisation, complexity, and integration) dictate that the thermal control subsystem (TCS) must accommodate significant increases in waste heat generation.

As a result, thermal control of satellite and spacecraft electronics is a significant issue. To enable effective cooling of spacecraft electronics, Thermacore offers a variety of Heat Pipe and Loop Heat Pipe technologies to provide efficient and low mass thermal solutions.

Loop Heat Pipes for Aerospace Applications

As more and more electronics are being packaged into satellites then ever before, providing adequate thermal control through radiation heat rejection with limited surface area becomes more challenging. Heat rejection radiator panels that can be stowed for launch and then deployed from the satellite on orbit are required.

Thermacore’s loop heat pipe technology makes heat rejection through deployable radiators possible and is capable of transporting and rejecting heat loads from 100’s of Watts to greater than 2000 Watts. The most relevant demonstration of Thermacore’s deployable loop heat pipe radiator is our delivery of the TSAT Deployable Radiator Engineering Model to LMSSC in March 2007. This loop heat pipe system met, and in some cases, surpassed the technical requirements set forth for the TSAT application.