Design Analysis and Performance testing of a Novel Passive Thermal Management System for Future Exploration Missions

In response to an announcement of opportunity from the NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Discovery Program, the Southwest Research Institute in collaboration with the Aerospace Corporation and the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) proposed a lunar lander science mission. The Moon Age and Regolith Explorer (MARE) would use a lunar lander to reach a young, nearside lunar lava flow for the collection and analysis of the lunar soil. This would be used for the determination of the impact history of the inner solar system and the evolution and differentiation of the interiors of one-plate planets. The lunar lander proposed was based on the NASA JSC Morpheus lander vehicle. The thermal environments for the proposed mission were both challenging and unprecedented, since survival of multiple lunar day/night cycles at the south-west region of the Aristarchus plateau were required. Other thermal design challenges included the need of a low mass, simple, robust and reliable thermal management system that would assure the success of the proposed mission. As part of the proposal effort, and leveraging on existing NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), a completely passive thermal control system concept was used to meet mission requirements. The thermal management system proposed uses a novel type of hybrid grooved and sintered wick variable conductance heat pipe and a high conductivity heat spreader; the thermal management systems tested wer developed by Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) in Landcaster, Pennsylvania. This publication will present the design, analysis and prototype component and system level performance testing done at NASA JSC.