THERMAL A N D MECHANICAL MICROSPACECRAFT TECHN0IxK;IES FOR DEEP SPACE SYSTEMS PROGRAM no00 FUTURE DELIVEIW

A wide range of fi~ture space missions are expected to utilize the technologies and the architecture developed by DSST FD. These technologies, besides being small in physical size, malce the tiny spacecraft robust and flexible. The DSST FD architecture is designed to be highly reliable and suitable for a wide range of missions such as planetary landedorbiterdflybys, earth orbiteis, corn- flybySnanddsampIe rehuns, e t c. Two of the key ideas used in the development of thermal and mechanical technologies and architectures are: 1) to include several of the thermal and mechanical functions in any given single spacecraft element and 2) the architecture be modular so that it can easily be adapted to any of the firture missions. One of the thermal architectures being explored for the DSST FD microspacecraft is the integrated thermal energy management of the complete spacecraft using a fluid loop. The robustness and the simplicity of the loop and the flexibility with which it can be integrated in the spacecraft have made it attractive for applications o DSST FD. Some of the thermal technologies to be developed as a part of this architecture are passive and active cooling loops, electrically variable emittance surfaces, miniatur