NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
From Concept-to-Flight: An Active Active Fluid Loop Based Thermal Control System for Mars Science Laboratory RoverThe Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, which was launched on November 26, 2011, incorporates a novel active thermal control system to keep the sensitive electronics and science instruments at safe operating and survival temperatures. While the diurnal temperature variations on the Mars surface range from -120 C to +30 C, the sensitive equipment are kept within -40 C to +50 C. The active thermal control system is based on a single-phase mechanically pumped fluid loop (MPFL) system which removes or recovers excess waste heat and manages it to maintain the sensitive equipment inside the rover at safe temperatures. This paper will describe the entire process of developing this active thermal control system for the MSL rover from concept to flight implementation. The development of the rover thermal control system during its architecture, design, fabrication, integration, testing, and launch is described.
Document ID
20130010662
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Birur, Gajanana C.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Bhandari, Pradeep
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Bame, David
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Karlmann, Paul
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Mastropietro, A. J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Liu, Yuanming
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Miller, Jennifer
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Pauken, Michael
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Lyra, Jacqueline
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 27, 2013
Publication Date
July 15, 2012
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA International Conference on Environmental Systems 2012
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: July 15, 2012
End Date: July 19, 2012
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
heat rejection systems
thermal control
active fluid loop
mechanically pumped fluid loop
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available