New Deployable Radiator for NASA's Inflatable Structures

As NASA pursues its strategic goals of leaving low-Earth orbit, establishing a permanent presence on the Moon, and putting the first boots on Mars, a novel design for thermal control and heat rejection for human-rated habitats is desired since heat loads are expected to increase. NASA has been actively testing inflatable modules and has expressed interest in radiator designs that can be used in conjunction with these modules. In this regard, a radiator containing six panels has been adopted in which they can be folded in two dimensions to reduce the payload size when being launched to space. The design’s configuration consists of two radiator wings. Each wing consists of three panels which come in rhombuses. Each panel radiates heat to space on both sides. And for redundancy purposes, each wing has its independent piping system.