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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PEGASUS (Flight Qualification of Deployable Radiator using Two Phase Technology)

Teaser

The main objective of the Pegasus project is to qualify a Deployable Radiator (DPR) based on Loop Heat Pipes. The DPR product will be developed in such a way that modularity and scalability (up or down) will be guaranteed. The reason to provide scalability and a modular design...

Summary

The main objective of the Pegasus project is to qualify a Deployable Radiator (DPR) based on Loop Heat Pipes.
The DPR product will be developed in such a way that modularity and scalability (up or down) will be guaranteed. The reason to provide scalability and a modular design is that the DPR can be used in application other than telecom (i.e, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) such as Earth Observation or scientific) and in several platforms, including full electric. Additionally, the proposed design provides a solution flexible enough to adapt this technology to different heat transport systems such as Loop Heat Pipes (using direct or indirect condensation) and Mechanical Pumped Loops (MPLs).
Several DPR hardware models will be manufactured according to the resulting design. From one side, the following prototype models will be developed:
• One DPR small scale model (verification model) for telecommunication applications to demonstrate the fulfilment of the required thermal performance.
• One radiator panel for LEO applications to demonstrate the scalability, flexibility and adaptability of the proposed DPR design.
• One deployment mechanism engineering model to demonstrate the adaptability of the proposed design. Such mechanism will be integrated into the previous models (DPR verification model and LEO radiator panel) to verify the interfaces and prove the compatibility of the mechanism with different heat transport systems.
On the other side, taking into account the experimental results obtained from these prototype models, a DPR QM will be manufactured. The complete flight qualification will be performed on this QM including mechanical and thermal testing at components (mechanism and LHPs) and DPR levels.

Work performed

1.2.1 Work Package 1
IberEspacio (IE), as coordinator of the consortium, has organized the different project board meetings since KO meeting held at IberEspacio premises on January 2015.
The different activities carried out during this period were the followings:
1. Internal communication and reporting between partners, WP-leaders and coordinator, and between coordinator and the commission;
2. Organisation of Project Board meetings.
3. Management-level overview of the activities carried out by the project during the period
4. Coordination of this reporting period compiling the different technical parts of each partner and submitting all information to EC participant portal.

1.2.2 Work Package 2
IberEspacio, Thales Alenia Space France (TAS-F) and Thales Alenia Space Italy (TAS-I) were actively involved in this WP with the objective of defining two DPR specifications, one for a GEO telecommunications spacecraft and one for LEO missions.
For the first goal a preliminary DPR specification (D2.2 PEGASUS-TASF-REQ-0001 Iss 0) was issued by TAS-F and discussed during the Specification Review was hold in Cannes on the 16/04/2015. After several iterations a consolidated specification was issued by TAS-F (D2.3 PEGASUS-TASF-REQ-0001 Iss 1).
The output has been the identification of critical aspects of the GEO DPR specs/design (ref. to progress meeting presentations and minutes).

1.2.3 Work Package 3
The activities performed by IberEspacio included the issue of a specification with the coating performance requirements, the substrate materials to be used, the baseline treatments, the verification standards and a preliminary test matrix. All the requirements were specified taking into account the DPR design.
The following paragraphs summarize the activities performed by Tecnalia:
Task 3.1.1 Identification and selection of the Cr(VI)-free coatings
Task 3.1.2 Development and application of the Cr(VI)-free coatings
Task 3.1.3 Testing and evaluation

1.2.4 Work Package 4
IberEspacio and Thales Alenia Space France were actively involved in this WP with the objective of designing a Deployable Radiator assembly compliant with the requirements of the corresponding specification issued by TAS-F in the frame of WP2.
One of the first activities performed by IE was the issue of a specification for the deployment mechanism to be developed by SENER in the frame of WP5 (D4.1 PEGASUS-IE-RQ-0001 Iss01) This specification takes into account the DPR specification together with the corresponding ECSS.
In the first stage of the design, a trade-off was performed to define the main thermal and mechanical characteristics of the DPR: location and stiffness of the HDRM, condenser layout inside the panel, boom shape, etc.
In general the design is compliant with the DPR specification. The design is summarized in the corresponding deliverable: D4.3 PEGASUS-IE-RP-0001 Iss01.

1.2.5 Work Package 5
The initial design assessment and trade-off (T 5.1) was performed and presented in the Progress Meeting-1 in July. For that, the conceptual design and initial sizing and deployment simulations were performed. At that time, it was highlighted and justified that the mass budget for the deployment mechanism was not achievable based on the required stiffness’s and deployment torque.
The design report PEGASUS-SEN-RP-0001 issue 1 (D 5.1) and the Mechanical ICD PEGASUS-SEN-DW-00001 issue 1 were issued in beginning of November to be able to be reviewed by the consortium before the Design Review which was held in mid December 2015. The presented design was fully compliant with the requirements specification with the exception of the mass which was justified in advance.

1.2.6 Work Package 6
During year 2015 work has been limited to preliminary design and thermal analysis. The selected architecture is a sandwich panel equipped with HPs. The overall size is 0.8 x 0.6 m2. The number of heat pipes has been fixed to 5. Evaporators of the HPs are embedded in a heat exchanger, which is in

Final results

1. Increase the maturity of thermal management components for spacecraft.
2. Qualify a European supplier for space critical technologies.
3. Integrate a European supply chain
4. Promote the number of Small Companies in space activities
5. Provide validated space technologies for spin-off in non-space sectors.
6. Develop a commercial evaluation of the technology, and address how to access the commercial market.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.pegasus-dpr.eu/.