Thermal Management of a Fast UV Slitless Spectrometer for a Meteor Research Experiment

This paper presents the proposed thermal management design for an ultra-violet slitless spectrometer to be flown on either the Space Shuttle or on the International Space Station as a scientific experiment to capture the ultraviolet spectrum of meteors as they are heated by the Earth’s atmosphere. The proposed telescope was initially planned as a Hitchhiker experiment for the Space Shuttle. The Space Station environment is thermally more critical than the Hitchhiker application. The final thermal design is essentially passive; however, heaters will be used to maintain the component temperatures at acceptable levels during telescope nonoperating conditions. The major difference between the Space Station design and the Hitchhiker design is the use of external multi-layer insulation and thermal strapping on the former application.   This paper was also originally published as part of the Proceedings of the ASME 2005 Pacific Rim Technical Conference and Exhibition on Integration and Packaging of MEMS, NEMS, and Electronic Systems.