POLARIS EXPERIMENT: DATA COLLECTED DURING THE STRATOSPHERIC FLIGHT ON THE BALLOON BEXUS18

摘要

POLARIS experiment, POLymer-Actuated Radiator with Independent Surfaces, is a technology demonstrator based on a new concept of heat radiator, conceived for space and planetary applications. This innovative radiator, named "multi-plate", is able to influence actively the heat amount dissipated towards the environment through a simple geometry change, varying its equivalent thermal resistance. In order to better understand the potentialities of this radiator concept in one of its most likely scenario of application, POLARIS flew into stratosphere on the BEXUS18 balloon, in the framework of the REXUS-BEXUS programme; the flight took place from the ESRANGE Space Center on October 12th, 2014. The conditions that the experiment experienced during the flight allowed to evaluate the radiator in a realistic context, giving an extraordinary opportunity to characterize its capabilities. In this paper, POLARIS architecture is introduced and the main results obtained from the stratospheric balloon flight are presented and discussed.