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Technical Paper

Development Of The Miniature Spacecraft Energy Retention (MiSER) Thermal Control Panel

2001-07-09
2001-01-2219
Over the past two years, Starsys and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) have been working toward the development of a thermal panel that uses a spacecraft’s internal power to control its temperature. The panel incorporates two different thermal technologies: a thermal switch and a high conductivity composite radiator. While thermal switches have been used before, the design and testing costs associated with each new design make them an undesirable alternative. The MISER panel incorporates a fully tested thermal switch with a radiator into a modular system that can be easily added onto any spacecraft structure. The lightweight radiator makes it self-supporting, so interfaces with the mounting structure are simplified. The same panel can provide thermal control over a wide range of environmental conditions, making constellation spacecraft viable with significantly different orbits.
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