NASA Space Technology’s Game Changing Development Program has
selected eight proposals to develop advanced thermal control
system technologies for future spacecraft. The selected
proposals will address a difficult design challenge facing
future spacecraft – the development of a thermal control system
that can reject high heat loads in a warm thermal environment
yet still operate efficiently in a cold environment. Similar to
how heating and cooling systems keep people comfortable on
Earth, thermal control systems are an important part of keeping
astronauts safe and comfortable in space. The spacecraft, and
everything on board, must remain within a specified temperature
range during a variety of mission phases and in a dynamic
environment with extreme temperature changes. Known as,
“variable heat rejection thermal control systems,” NASA human
spaceflight studies, as well as those from the Space Technology
Roadmaps and the National Research Council’s response to these
roadmaps, have found that thermal control is