Space Station Thermal Management System Development Status and Plans

In accordance with a national commitment to an operational manned Space Station by the early 1990's, much of NASA's advanced space technology effort is being focused on specific Space Station requirements. In the area of thermal management, capabilities such as evolutionary on-orbit growth, indefinite life through maintenance, and flexibility to accommodate a time-varying complement of users constitute requirements that are radically different from those of previous or current missions. A generic thermal management technology development program, sponsored by the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, has been under way at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) for several years. During 1984, this program was significantly augmented to address specific Space Station needs in the areas of prototype hardware development, ground test-bed demonstrations, and Space Shuttle Orbiter flight experiments. A short discussion of the JSC program history is presented, a brief review of the current status of several ongoing studies and hardware demonstration tasks is provided, and future technology development plans are discussed.