Document Type

Conference Paper

Journal/Book Title/Conference

53rd International Conference on Environmental Systems

Publisher

International Conference on Environmental Systems

Location

Louisville, KY

Publication Date

7-2024

First Page

1

Last Page

13

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Abstract

The Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) will provide the first global characterization of atmospheric waves that originate in Earth’s lower atmosphere and affect space weather. The instrument has been installed on the International Space Station (ISS) ExPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC) 1 since November 2023. The main thermal control system consists of a passive, ambient temperature, bi-directional radiator to which pyrolytic graphite sheet (PGS) thermal straps connect four independent detectors, whose temperatures are actively controlled by thermoelectric coolers (TECs). This paper discusses the thermal design, thermal model correlation efforts (both with test temperature data and flight temperature data), and how the predictions compare to on-orbit measured temperatures. Included is a discussion of the various models used for thermal predictions, which covers the Thermal Desktop model as well as an analytical model scripted in MATLAB that accounts for time varying changes in the environment over the life of the mission. Designing an instrument for flight on the ISS is unique in that 1) many more attitudes must be considered for all the various maneuvers the ISS performs and 2) the interchange and environmental impact of the ISS makes the radiation exchange much more complicated than solo flight. These challenges will be discussed along with how the AWE thermal team handled them and the impact they had on the error between predictions and measured on-orbit temperatures.

Download

Share

COinS