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Artemis 3 Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS-A3) Thermal Control Subsystem ArchitectureThe NASA Artemis 3 Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS-A3) instrument will be deployed by the Artemis 3 crew in the South Pole region of the Moon. LEMS-A3 consists of a common services bus and two seismometers to be buried in the regolith, and the instrument has been repackaged to improve the performance of the bus Thermal Control Subsystem (TCS). The nighttime heat leak has been reduced from 3W to 1.2W, from Engineering Design Unit (EDU) Thermal Vacuum (TVAC as predicted for the LEMS-A3 Critical Design Review (CDR). This improvement was brought about by repackaging that reduces surface area for the Integrated Multi Layer Insulation (IMLI), optimizing harness passthroughs including the selection of cryogenic coaxial cables, selecting an improved differential thermal expansion heat switch, and redesign of the Launch Lock (LL). The upgraded configuration enables LEMS-A3 to continuously operate in and survive the lunar night for up to 24 lunations to meet extended-operation mission objectives. This paper discusses the repackaging, thermal design improvements, and upgraded thermal hardware. Also, requirements for subsurface thermal analysis of the seismometer instrument in the Lunar South Pole region are presented. These include assumed worst case hot and cold biasing of regolith and seismometer properties for both astronaut deployment and nominal subsurface operations.
Document ID
20250005257
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Ethan Burbridge
(Vertex Aerospace, LLC)
Juan Rodriguez-Ruiz
(Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, United States)
Date Acquired
May 19, 2025
Subject Category
Engineering (General)
Spacecraft Design, Testing and Performance
Report/Patent Number
ICES-2025-383
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Environmental Systems
Location: Prague
Country: CZ
Start Date: July 13, 2025
End Date: July 17, 2025
Sponsors: Honeywell, Inc., Collins Aerospace, Boeing Co., Oceaneering, Vertex Aerospace, LLC
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: 80GSFC21CA007
WBS: 624345.05.01.02.06.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Portions of document may include copyright protected material.
Technical Review
External Peer Committee
Keywords
Thermal Control Subsystem
Survive the Lunar Night
Artemis 3
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