NETLANDER thermal control (original) (raw)
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Thermal Analysis of a Small-RPS Concept for the Mars NetLander Network Mission
2005
The NetLander Network mission concept was designed with up to 10 small landers to perform environmental monitoring on the surface of Mars over a long duty cycle. Each lander would utilize a small Radioisotope Power System (RPS) to generate about 20 to 25 We of electric power. Each small-RPS would use a single General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) module to generate about 250 Wt of thermal power (BOL), which must be dissipated throughout all phases of the mission. This paper describes a custom concept for a small-RPS, specifically suited for the NetLander, and discusses an analysis of the thermal environment for five phases of the mission. On Earth and on Mars the small-RPS would operate in planetary atmospheres and the waste heat would be removed through a passive radiator. During the cruise phase, including the launch, a fluid loop would provide active cooling to the radiator of the small-RPS and would reject the excess heat through an external radiator. For the entry, descent and landing (EDL) phase the lander would accumulate the excess heat, while building up thermal inertia inside. This analysis provides an initial step towards developing an end-to-end systems approach to better understand the operation of a small-RPS, and to account for the relevant operating phases and environments encountered during a mission.
Mars Science Laboratory Thermal Control Architecture
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL 1 ) mission to land a large rover on Mars is being planned for Launch in 2009. As currently conceived, the rover would use a Multimission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) to generate about 110 W of electrical power for use in the rover and the science payload. Usage of an MMRTG allows for a large amount of nearly constant electrical power to be generated day and night for all seasons (year around) and latitudes. This offers a large advantage over solar arrays. The MMRTG by its nature dissipates about 2000 W of waste heat to produce 110 W of electrical power. The basic architecture of the thermal system utilizes this waste heat on the surface of Mars to maintain the rover's temperatures within their limits under all conditions. In addition, during cruise, this waste heat needs to be dissipated safely to protect sensitive components in the spacecraft and the rover. Mechanically pumped fluid loops 2 are used to both harness the MMRTG heat during surface operations as well as reject it to space during cruise. This paper will describe the basic architecture of the thermal control system, the challenges and the methods used to overcome them by the use of an innovative architecture to maximize the use of heritage from past projects while meeting the requirements for the design.
Development of a Thermal Control Architecture for the Mars Exploration Rovers
2003
In June and July of 2003, the U.S. will launch two roving science vehicles on their way to Mars. They will land on Mars in January and February of 2004 and carry out 90-Sol missions. This paper addresses the thermal design architecture employed in the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) surface design. The surface atmosphere temperature on Mars can vary from 0°C in the heat of the day to -100°C in the early morning, prior to sunrise. Heater energy usage at night must be minimized in order to conserve battery energy. The desire to minimize nighttime heater energy leads to a design in which all temperature sensitive electronics and the battery were placed inside a well-insulated (carbon-opacified aerogel lined) Warm Electronics Box (WEB). In addition, radioisotope heater units (RHU's) were mounted on the battery and electronics inside the WEB. During the Martian day, the electronics inside the WEB dissipate a large amount of energy (over 740 W*hrs). This heat energy raises the intemal temperatures inside the WEB. Hardware items that have similar temperature limits were conductively coupled together to share heat and concentrate thermal mass. Thermal mass helped to minimize temperature increases in the hot case (with maximum internal dissipation) and minimize temperature decreases in the cold case (with minimum internal dissipation). In order to prevent the battery from exceeding its maximum allowable flight temperature, wax-actuated passive thermal switches were placed between the battery and an external radiator. This paper discusses the design philosophies and system requirements that resulted in a successful Mars rover thermal design.
2018
In response to an announcement of opportunity from 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 for a low mass, robust and reliable thermal management system ...
Mars Exploration Rover Entry, Descent, & Landing: A Thermal Perspective
Perhaps the most challenging mission phase for the Mars Exploration Rovers was the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL). During this phase, the entry vehicle attached to its cruise stage was transformed into a stowed tetrahedral Lander that was surrounded by inflated airbags through a series of complex events. There was only one opportunity to successfully execute an automated command sequence without any possible ground intervention. The success of EDL was reliant upon the system thermal design: 1) to thermally condition EDL hardware from cruise storage temperatures to operating temperature ranges; 2) to maintain the Rover electronics within operating temperature ranges without the benefit of the cruise single phase cooling loop, which had been evacuated in preparation for EDL; and 3) to maintain the cruise stage propulsion components for the critical turn to entry attitude. Since the EDL architecture was inherited from Mars Pathfinder (MPF), the initial EDL thermal design would be inherited from MPF. However, hardware and implementation differences from MPF ultimately changed the MPF inheritance approach for the EDL thermal design. With the lack of full inheritance, the verification and validation of the EDL thermal design took on increased significance. This paper will summarize the verification and validation approach for the EDL thermal design along with applicable system level thermal testing results as well as appropriate thermal analyses. In addition, the lessons learned during the system-level testing will be discussed. Finally, the in-flight EDL experiences of both MER-A &-B missions (Spirit and Opportunity, respectively) will be presented, demonstrating how lessons learned from Spirit were applied to Opportunity.
Mars Exploration Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing: A Thermal Perspective
2005
Perhaps the most challenging mission phase for the Mars Exploration Rovers was the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL). During this phase, the entry vehicle attached to its cruise stage was transformed into a stowed tetrahedral Lander that was surrounded by inflated airbags through a series of complex events. There was only one opportunity to successfully execute an automated command sequence without any possible ground intervention. The success of EDL was reliant upon the system thermal design: 1) to thermally condition EDL hardware from cruise storage temperatures to operating temperature ranges; 2) to maintain the Rover electronics within operating temperature ranges without the benefit of the cruise single phase cooling loop, which had been evacuated in preparation for EDL; and 3) to maintain the cruise stage propulsion components for the critical turn to entry attitude. Since the EDL architecture was inherited from Mars Pathfinder (MPF), the initial EDL thermal design would be in...
Standardization of Thermal Interface for Future Space Missions
2019
This paper presents the thermal IF of SIROM project that has been developed by MAG SOAR. SIROM project, funded by the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, aims to advance on the key-points of Space Robotics Technologies. This multi-functional standard interface provides mechanical, power, data and thermal connectivity on a limited space (diameter 120mm and height of 30mm). This high-power transmission is achieved using a Close-Loop Fluid Heat Exchange Module (CL-FHEM). Test were divided at component level in order to characterize the coupling force at different temperature range (-40C up to 70C) and at integrated systems level where different values such as heat transfer, pressure drop and leakage were obtained. Due to the industry interest of the technology, an optimized version of the proposed thermal IF has been founded by Horizon 2020 in the context of MOSAR project [1].
Sensors, 2010
We describe the parameters that drive the design and modeling of the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) Ground Temperature Sensor (GTS), an instrument aboard NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, and report preliminary test results. REMS GTS is a lightweight, low-power, and low cost pyrometer for measuring the Martian surface kinematic temperature. The sensor's main feature is its innovative design, based on a simple mechanical structure with no moving parts. It includes an in-flight calibration system that permits sensor recalibration when sensor sensitivity has been degraded by deposition of dust over the optics. This paper provides the first results of a GTS engineering model working in a Martian-like, extreme environment.
Preliminary Surface Thermal Design of the Mars 2020 Rover
2015
The Mars 2020 rover, scheduled for launch in July 2020, is currently being designed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Mars 2020 rover design is derived from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, which has been exploring the surface of Mars in Gale Crater for over 2.5 years. The Mars 2020 rover will carry a new science payload made up of 7 instruments. In addition, the Mars 2020 rover is responsible for collecting a sample cache of Mars regolith and rock core samples that could be returned to Earth in a future mission. Accommodation of the new payload and the Sampling Caching System (SCS) has driven significant thermal design changes from the original MSL rover design. This paper describes the similarities and differences between the heritage MSL rover thermal design and the new Mars 2020 thermal design. Modifications to the MSL rover thermal design that were made to accommodate the new payload and SCS are discussed. Conclusions about thermal design flexibility a...
Acta Astronautica, 2002
Simultaneous measurements collected by a network of landers spread over the surface of Mars will provide a unique leap forward in our knowledge of Mars. This is the objective of the NetLander (for Network Lander) project developed by CNES (French Space Agency), FM1 (Finnish Meteorological Institute), BP (Institute fbr Planetologie -Mtinster) in cooperation with a number of institutes in Europe and in the United States. The NetLander mission will deploy four identical landers on the surface of Mars. Each lander includes a scientific payload with instrumentation aimed at studying the interior of Mars, the atmosphere, the sub-surface, as well as the ionospheric structure and geodesy. The European NetLander mission will be launched in 2007 with the orbiter developed by CNES in the framework of the French Mars exploration program. After a cruise phase lasting several months, the NetLander probes will be separated from the orbiter and targeted to their landing sites.