Nathanson, D. M. | Engineering Papers

NASA NTRS1986

Thermal testing by internal IR heating of the FEP module

A spacecraft module, to be integrated with the FLTSATCOM spacecraft, was tested in a simulated orbit environment separate from the host spacecraft. Thermal vacuum testing of the module was accomplished using internal IR heating rather than conventional external heat sources. For this configuration, the technique produced boundary conditions expected for flight to enable verification of system performance and thermal design details.

Nathanson, D. M.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Satellite thermal modeling using the illuminographic camera

The application is discussed of illuminographic camera techniques to the measurement of radiative form factors for satellite modeling applications. The equation for the illuminographic mirror is derived, and the advantages of the method are discussed. Proximity error for the illuminographic mirror is defined, and estimates of this error as a function of the scale factor of the model are given, together with a method for halving this error. Designs for illuminographic mirrors are presented: the first provides a further threefold reduction in proximity error; the second permits the estimation of thermal radiation transfer coefficients to interior regions of otherwise inaccessible volumes. Finally, reflex Polaroid camera techniques appropriate to the relatively small size of the illuminographic mirror are described.

Wiesner, S. J.↗