Satellite Modular and Reconfigurable Thermal System (SMARTS)

This paper describes a two-phase heat transfer based thermal design architecture for satellites that need to be conceived, configured, launched, and operationally deployed very quickly. The architecture has been given the acronym SMARTS for Satellite Modular and Reconfigurable Thermal System. SMARTS is a Phase I-II SBIR program awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate to Technology Assessment & Transfer. The SMARTS philosophy involves four basic design rules: (1) modest radiator oversizing; (2) maximum external insulation; (3) internal isothermalization; and (4) radiator heat-flow modulation. For a prototypical multipanel small satellite, the paper describes a SMARTS thermal control system that uses: (a) panel-to-panel heat conduction; (b) intra-panel heat pipe isothermalization; (c) radiator heat-flow modulation via a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) cold-biased loop heat pipe (LHP); and (d) maximum external MLAnalyses are presented that compare the traditional cold-biasing plus heater power passive thermal design approach to the SMARTS approach. Additional analyses and conceptual design work oriented towards the Phase II goal of developing a multi-panel, TEC-coldbiased, LHP-modulated SMARTS small satellite test bed are also described. The ultimate goal is to incorporate SMARTS into the design of future satellites envisioned by the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) initiative