Conceptual Design of the Columbus Free Flying Laboratory Resource Module Thermal Control Subsystem

The thermal control subsystem of the Columbus Resource Module has to cope with an unusual variety of orbit attitudes, mission modes and configurations.

A short overview over the past RM thermal concepts is given and the present thermal design is described in detail.

A passive concept with extensive use of heatpipes configured as network is baselined. The low available heater power in conjunction with the significant dissipation variations of th NiH₂ batteries require there a very effective heat rejection control concept. A new regulation concept has been selected which allows to switch off up to 75% of the battery radiator area by use of Liquid Trap Heatpipes.

The verification concept which does not use system level testing is briefly described.