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.
Clementine Thermal Design and Verification Testing: Quick, Cheap, Unusual, Successful
Sae Technical Papers
International Conference On Environmental Systems ; 1996
1996-07-01
Conference paper
English
Thermal Design Verification Testing of the Clementine Spacecraft: Quick, Cheap and Useful
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