Thermal Design Considerations of the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM)

摘要

The Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) is a flight demonstration of the tasks required to perform robotic refueling of orbiting spacecraft. Future servicing of orbiting satellites will build on the experience gained in this flight demonstration to successfully refuel spacecraft in situ. For this mission, RRM will be mounted to an Express Pallet Adapter (ExPA) for launch and installed onto the International Space Station (ISS) Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4). RRM operations will be conducted using the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) robotic arm on the ISS with the ORU/Tool Changeout Mechanism (OTCM) for grasping tools and completing the propellant refueling demonstration tasks. This paper presents the thermal considerations and design of the RRM, including the tools required for the tasks, over the extreme range of thermal conditions experienced on the ISS.