Thermal Assessment of Swift BAT Instrument Thermal Control System in Flight

Abstract

<div class="htmlview paragraph">The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) instrument of the <i>Swift</i> mission consists of a telescope assembly, a Power Converter Box (PCB), and a pair of Image Processor Electronics (IPE) boxes (a primary and a redundant). The telescope assembly Detector Array thermal control system includes eight constant conductance heat pipes (CCHPs), two loop heat pipes (LHPs), a radiator that has AZ-Tek's AZW-LA-II low solar absorptance white paint, and precision heater controllers that have adjustable set points in flight. The PCB and IPEs have Z93P white paint radiators. <i>Swift</i> was successfully launched into orbit on November 20, 2004. This paper presents a thermal assessment of the BAT instrument thermal control system during the first six months in flight.</div>