Thermal control technology for the space station adjoint modular satellite based on new thermal control materials

Abstract

A modular satellite could perform various functions with various modules and the function of the satellite could be expanded easily. Therefore, the modularization design is an important development direction of space station adjoint satellites and others. However, every module of a modular satellite is structurally independent and the heat dissipation is unevenly distributed, while the interface between modules should support repeatable connection-separating. The traditional thermal control design could not satisfy the thermal control demand. In this paper, the thermal control technology for the space station adjoint modular satellite based on the thermal interface of carbon nanotube array on copper substrate, graphene coating and smart thermal control coating is proposed. By using the new technology, the thermal connection of the assembly and reconstruction system is built and the synergistic heat dissipation of the whole satellite is achieved. As to validate the proposed technology, the finite element model of the space station adjoint modular satellite is established and the whole flight process is simulated. The result indicates that the thermal control technology proposed in this paper can satisfy the thermal control demand of the modular satellite.