An Analytical Approach to the Thermal Design of Spacecrafts

Abstract

The linearized thermal balance equations of two-nodes system, in which radiative heat dissipation to outer space from the each node and heat transfer between them are counted, are analytically solved for several special cases which closely relate to the real situations in spacecrafts. And general theorems on n-nodes system are presented with relations to the real spacecraft structure. Based on these discussions, a new method of thermal analysis of spacecrafts is proposed, which is essentially an experimental analysis of simplified thermal model. The construction method of this model and the data reduction process are shown with an illustrative example. Using this method, the thermal character of a spacecraft can be determined with minimum simulator time and without longsome numerical computation.