Document Type

Presentation

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Thermal & Fluids Analysis Workshop 2025

Publisher

NASA

Location

NASA Ames Research Center

Publication Date

8-4-2025

First Page

1

Last Page

26

Abstract

The Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) is providing 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’s (ISS) ExPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC) site 1 since November 2023. The AWE flight thermal balance test at Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) was unique in that the radiation exchange from the radiators was not tested prior to flight. Instead, heaters were placed on the radiators to simulate environmental heat and control the boundary temperatures. Multi-layer insulation (MLI) was installed over the radiators and heat flow meters were installed near the radiators and the other external interfaces where heat can flow in and out of the instrument. This setup allowed for the heat flow inside the instrument to be well characterized, which decreased the uncertainty of internal gradients in the correlated thermal model. The external radiation exchange was predicted to have a high uncertainty due to the interactions and view factors to the ISS, such that the uncertainty of how the radiator coatings would perform was small compared to the uncertainty from view factors and emissivity values on the ISS side. Thus, the test deviated from a traditional thermal balance test and, instead, focused on minimizing the uncertainties that SDL could control. This paper details the AWE thermal balance test and thermal model correlation, touching on lessons learned and providing advice on how and when to test in this manner. This paper also summarizes the comprehensive calibration tests that the AWE payload underwent and the thermal challenges that it entailed.

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