Innovative Insulations for Spacecraft On-surface Monitoring System in Harsh Environments

摘要

The success of any space mission demands an accurate spacecraft monitoring with dependence on various sensors if possible on-surface of the spacecraft to provide critical structural health information in space. NASA has long recognized the significance to have performance monitoring for spacecraft. However, characterized by the properties of microgravity, vacuum, presence of radiation, large thermal variations, mechanical vibrations and shock resulting from the launch, space is well-known as one of the most challenging environment for any sensing system. One of the major challenges is to operate sensors in extreme harsh environments with large temperature variance, which significantly influences sensor's accuracy, reliability, and durability. In this study, innovative multilayer insulation coatings are developed to eliminate the environmental effects and ultimately adjust the sensitivity the sensors towards the parameters needed to be sensed. The developed composite insulation configures innovative metal and nonmetal layers in a single insulation. The design is guided through theoretical and numerical modeling analysis of heat transfer and thermal stress progressing. Detail theoretic, numerical, and experimental analysis proved the feasibility of the proposed multilayer structure of the insulation to work up to 700°C without inducing significant deformation on the top of sensor surface from heat. The developed multilayer composite insulation, thus, enables accurate monitoring capability for spacecraft on-surface monitoring system in harsh service environments.