Shuttle payload bay thermal environments: Summary and conclusion report for STS Flights 1-5

The thermal data for the payload bay of the first five shuttle flights is summarized and the engineering evaluation of that data is presented. After a general discussion on mission profiles and vehicle configurations, the thermal design and flight instrumentation systems of the payload bay are described. The thermal flight data sources and a categorization of the data are then presented. A thermal flight data summarization section provides temperature data for the five phases of a typical mission profile. These are: prelaunch, ascent, on-orbit, entry and postlanding. The thermal flight data characterization section encompasses this flight data for flight to flight variations, payload effects, temperature ranges, and other variations. Discussion of the thermal environment prediction models in use by industry and various NASA Centers, and the results predicted by these models, is followed by an evaluation of the correlation between the actual flight data and the results predicted by the models. Finally, the available thermal data are evaluated from the viewpoint of the user concerned with establishing the thermal environment in the payload bay. The data deficiencies are discussed and recommendations for their elimination are presented.