A thermal canister experiment for the Space Shuttle

An experiment will be described which, if successful, will demonstrate the feasibility of using a heat pipe thermal canister to control the temperature of a wide variety of instruments operating in the bay of the NASA Space Shuttle. The experiment will be launched in December 1979 as part of the fourth orbital flight test of the Shuttle. Predictions indicate that the canister can provide an environment controlled to + or - 1 C over the range of 0 C to 30 C for conductively and radiatively coupled instruments with internal power dissipations of approximately 100 to 400 watts. This is the most ambitious thermal control program yet attempted which uses heat pipes as the primary control element. The outcome of this experiment will have far reaching implications for instruments which are operated in the Shuttle bay.