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Guidelines for the Selection of Near-Earth Thermal Environment Parameters for Spacecraft Design

Thermal analysis and design of Earth orbiting systems requires specification of three environmental thermal parameters: the direct solar irradiance, Earth's local albedo, and outgoing longwave radiance (OLR). In the early 1990s data sets from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment were analyzed on behalf of the Space Station Program to provide an accurate description of these parameters as a function of averaging time along the orbital path. This information, documented in SSP 30425 and, in more generic form in NASA/TM-4527, enabled the specification of the proper thermal parameters for systems of various thermal response time constants. However, working with the engineering community and SSP-30425 and TM-4527 products over a number of years revealed difficulties in interpretation and application of this material. For this reason it was decided to develop this guidelines document to help resolve these issues of practical application. In the process, the data were extensively reprocessed and a new computer code, the Simple Thermal Environment Model (STEM) was developed to simplify the process of selecting the parameters for input into extreme hot and cold thermal analyses and design specifications. In the process, greatly improved values for the cold case OLR values for high inclination orbits were derived. Thermal parameters for satellites in low, medium, and high inclination low-Earth orbit and with various system thermal time constraints are recommended for analysis of extreme hot and cold conditions. Practical information as to the interpretation and application of the information and an introduction to the STEM are included. Complete documentation for STEM is found in the user's manual, in preparation.

Anderson, B. J.

SRB thermal environments

The objective was to utilize and expand the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) orbital flight test data base for better predictions of future flight environments. There were five tasks associated with this effort: analyze the internal aft skirt wind tunnel data and incorporate it into a data base for generating design and preflight reeentry thermal environments; generate reentry design thermal environments for the SRB steel case with the nozzle extension off; generate reentry design thermal environments for the SRB Filament Wound Case with the nozzle extension off; develop an engineering tool to analyze the 3-D flowfield around the SRB aft skirt during reentry for the purpose of obtaining the frequency and severity of the belching gas intrusion internal to the aft skirt; and perform SRM transient joint flow analysis for subscale and full scale motor firing as well as determine the effects of debonds of the insulation on the fill time and heating within the field joint insulation. In addition, this work was extended to provide support for the 51L Shuttle SRB failure analysis.

Crain, W. K.

Thermal Environment Modeling Practices for the Descent Trajectory of Lunar Landers

With the current push to send landers back to the moon, properly modeling the thermal environment for the descent is critical. Descent in this paper is described as: descending from low lunar orbit to touch down on surface. There are several challenges during this period, including: many electronics (such as battery, avionics, transponder, etc…) have higher heat loads due to higher power levels, a significant portion of the view factor to space has been blocked out by the moon making heat rejection less efficient, components that normally do not have direct line of sight to the sun may get exposure due to the lander rotating to align for descent, and thruster firing will dump more heat into the lander. All of these factors combine during the most critical phase of a lander mission make it essential that the thermal environment has been properly set up during design and analysis. This paper presents one method of setting up the thermal environment during descent in Thermal Desktop and will also include some tips and tricks.

Szerszen, Alexander

An assessment of the Space Shuttle Orbiter thermal environment using flight data

A unified analysis of the Shuttle Orbiter aerothermodynamic environment and thermal protection system performance is presented using the Space Transportation System development flight data. Comparisons of predicted and measured temperatures and heating rates along the Orbiter lower windward fuselage centerline and lower wing 50 percent and 80 percent semi-spans are discussed. The results of this study indicate lower than predicted heating on windward fuselage surface but higher heating on the nose cap and 50 percent semi-span wing panels.

Williams, S. D.

Thermal environments for Space Shuttle payloads

The thermal environment of the Space Shuttle payload bay during the on-orbit phase of the STS flights is presented. The STS Thermal Flight Instrumentation System and various substructures of the Orbiter and the payload are described, as well as the various on-orbit attitudes encountered in the STS flights (the tail to sun, nose to sun, payload bay to sun, etc.). Included are the temperature profiles obtained during the on-orbit STS 1-5 flights (with the payload bay door open), recorded in various substructures of the Orbiter's midsection at different flight attitudes, as well as schematic illustrations of the Space Shuttle system, a typical mission profile, and the Orbiter's substructures.

Fu, J. H.

Shuttle payload bay thermal environments: Summary and conclusion report for STS Flights 1-5

The thermal data for the payload bay of the first five shuttle flights is summarized and the engineering evaluation of that data is presented. After a general discussion on mission profiles and vehicle configurations, the thermal design and flight instrumentation systems of the payload bay are described. The thermal flight data sources and a categorization of the data are then presented. A thermal flight data summarization section provides temperature data for the five phases of a typical mission profile. These are: prelaunch, ascent, on-orbit, entry and postlanding. The thermal flight data characterization section encompasses this flight data for flight to flight variations, payload effects, temperature ranges, and other variations. Discussion of the thermal environment prediction models in use by industry and various NASA Centers, and the results predicted by these models, is followed by an evaluation of the correlation between the actual flight data and the results predicted by the models. Finally, the available thermal data are evaluated from the viewpoint of the user concerned with establishing the thermal environment in the payload bay. The data deficiencies are discussed and recommendations for their elimination are presented.

Fu, J. H.

Orbiter cargo bay thermal environment data

The orbiter cargo bay thermal environment data is presented. Measurements include: insulation surface temperatures, wire tray surface temperatures, sill longeron temperatures, gas temperatures, radiator temperatures, and gas pressure.

Brown, R. G.

Mars 2020 Surface Mission Modeling Landing Site Thermal Environments

This paper presents work done by the Mars 2020 Mission Planning Team to characterize landing site thermal environments. A process was developed to take in ground temperature simulation data for each landing site and efficiently discretize it into six thermal environment bins. The Mars 2020 Thermal Team then performed detailed heater and energy modeling in each of those environments. The heater modeling results were implemented into a Monte Carlo based surface mission model to understand mission performance impacts. The Mars 2020 Instrument Teams used the results to inform their design and to better understand how the thermal conditions at each landing site affected their instruments.

Lange, Robert D.

Mars 2020 Surface Mission Modeling Landing Site Thermal Environments

This paper presents work done by the Mars 2020 Mission Planning Team to characterize landing site thermal environments. A process was developed to take in ground temperature simulation data for each landing site and efficiently discretize it into six thermal environment bins. The Mars 2020 Thermal Team then performed detailed heater and energy modeling in each of those environments. The heater modeling results were implemented into a Monte Carlo based surface mission model to understand mission performance impacts. The Mars 2020 Instrument Teams used the results to inform their design and to better understand how the thermal conditions at each landing site affected their instruments.

Lange, Robert D.

Thermal environment of Mars

Thermal observations of Mars are reviewed focusing on surface and atmospheric temperatures. Data obtained indicate that the effect of increasing dust in the atmosphere is to reduce diurnal temperature variation at the surface, while enhancing atmospheric thermal variation. Atmospheric thermal effects can be induced by global dust storms even in regions of polar night. Maximum temperatures occur near the equator in summer or at local sites with sunward facing slopes, where low surface thermal inertias make it possible to achieve values up to about 310 K. Radiation and convection in the daytime affect atmospheric temperatures near the surface, which are limited by radiation at night. Results of thermal observations confirm that Mars' thermal state and climate can significantly vary from year to year, due to the variation in dust activity.

Martin, T. Z.

The Generation and Application of Paylaod Thermal Environments for a Lunar Lander Mission

In today’s space industry many organizations develop payloads or other components that will fly on a vehicle or lander developed by a different organization. This creates a challenge for the payload developers of knowing the thermal environment, including effects from the spacecraft, of their instrument because the payload engineers will not have continuous access to an up-to-date thermal model of the spacecraft. To circumvent the vehicle developer having to provide a thermal model of the spacecraft to payload developers for detailed thermal analysis, the vehicle developer can provide environmental data to the payload engineers to apply to their payload model, instead. This data must include the boundary temperatures where the payload is mounted, sink temperatures, and both incident solar and infrared thermal flux. This paper will describe the method used to generate thermal environments for payloads on the Astrobotic Lunar Lander and how those environments were applied to an example payload, the Neutron Measurement at the Lunar Surface (NMLS) instrument. This work is unique because a standard method for generating and delivering payload environments does not exist. Benefits and drawbacks of using this method will also be discussed.

Thermal Environments

Reliability of High I/O High Density CCGA Interconnect Electronic Packages under Extreme Thermal Environment

This paper provides the experimental test results of advanced CCGA packages tested in extreme temperature thermal environments. Standard optical inspection and x-ray non-destructive inspection tools were used to assess the reliability of high density CCGA packages for deep space extreme temperature missions. Ceramic column grid array (CCGA) packages have been increasing in use based on their advantages such as high interconnect density, very good thermal and electrical performances, compatibility with standard surface-mount packaging assembly processes, and so on. CCGA packages are used in space applications such as in logic and microprocessor functions, telecommunications, payload electronics, and flight avionics. As these packages tend to have less solder joint strain relief than leaded packages or more strain relief over lead-less chip carrier packages, the reliability of CCGA packages is very important for short-term and long-term deep space missions. We have employed high density CCGA 1152 and 1272 daisy chained electronic packages in this preliminary reliability study. Each package is divided into several daisy-chained sections. The physical dimensions of CCGA1152 package is 35 mm x 35 mm with a 34 x 34 array of columns with a 1 mm pitch. The dimension of the CCGA1272 package is 37.5 mm x 37.5 mm with a 36 x 36 array with a 1 mm pitch. The columns are made up of 80% Pb/20%Sn material. CCGA interconnect electronic package printed wiring polyimide boards have been assembled and inspected using non-destructive x-ray imaging techniques. The assembled CCGA boards were subjected to extreme temperature thermal atmospheric cycling to assess their reliability for future deep space missions. The resistance of daisy-chained interconnect sections were monitored continuously during thermal cycling. This paper provides the experimental test results of advanced CCGA packages tested in extreme temperature thermal environments. Standard optical inspection and x-ray non-destructive inspection tools were used to assess the reliability of high density CCGA packages for deep space extreme temperature missions. Keywords: Extreme temperatures, High density CCGA qualification, CCGA reliability, solder joint failures, optical inspection, and x-ray inspection.

high density CCGA qualifications