Composite Panel with Integrated Thermal Control

Technological advancements in materials, sensors, and computing have driven demand for higher-performance satellites. Satellites need to be much more capable in a much smaller size with a longer lifetime. Due to the vacuum of the space environment, traditional spacecraft and satellite thermal control techniques usually rely upon conduction and radiation to dissipate and reject heat generated by onboard electronic equipment. The spacecraft is designed such that a conduction path exists among each electronic component, the spacecraft bus, and a radiator outside the spacecraft that radiates the electronics’ waste heat to space. Unfortunately, the amount of heat that can be dissipated and rejected using this approach is severely limited, and it is difficult to efficiently transfer this heat over large distances.