2017-07-072017-07-072017-07-16ICES_2017_272http://hdl.handle.net/2346/73058Mohammed T. Ababneh, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT), USACalin Tarau, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT), USAWilliam G. Anderson, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT), USAJeffery T. Farmer, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USAAngel R. Alvarez-Hernandez, NASA Johnson Space Center, USAStephania Ortega, NASA Johnson Space Center, USAICES104: Advances in Thermal Control TechnologyThe 47th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in South Carolina, USA on 16 July 2017 through 20 July 2017.As NASA prepares to further expand human and robotic presence in space, it is well known that spacecraft architectures will be challenged with unprecedented thermal environments in deep space. In addition, there is a need to extend the duration of the missions in both cold and hot environments, including cis-lunar and planetary surface excursions. The heat rejection turn–down ratio of the increased thermal loads in the above-mentioned conditions is crucial for minimizing vehicle resources (e.g. power). Therefore, future exploration activities will have the need of thermal management systems that can provide higher reliability and performance, and power and mass reduction. In an effort to start addressing the current technical gaps in thermal management systems, novel new passive thermal technologies have been selected to be included as part of suite of experiments to be tested on the board of the International Space Station (ISS), tentatively in 2017. Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT), together with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and NASA Johnson Space Center, are working to test and validate hybrid wick VCHP with warm reservoir and HiK™ plates on the ISS under the Advanced Passive Thermal experiment (APTx) project. The APTx consists of two separate payloads that will be tested sequentially: • Payload 1 contains a VCHP/HiK™ plate assembly: a hybrid-wick copper-Monel-water VCHP design consists of a copper evaporator (with sintered wick inside), a monel adiabatic section and a condenser both with grooved wick inside and a NCG reservoir thermally and physically attached to the evaporator. In turn, the VCHP evaporator is mounted on an aluminum HiK™ plate. • Payload 2 contains a HiK™ plate and the ElectroWetting Heat Pipe (EWHP) experiment, developed by the University of Texas at Austin. This paper will cover the results to date for the flight test, which is planned for 2017.application/pdfengAdvanced Passive Thermal ExperimentHybrid Variable Conductance Heat PipesHiK™ PlatesInternational Space Stationflight testmicro-gravity environmentPresentations