Improvements to Spacecraft Thermal Model Interfacing

A small SINDA/FLUINT logic routine was developed to improve upon standard spacecraft-to-instrument thermal model interface methodology for steady state analysis. Rather than the standard approach of providing backloads and/or conductive limits with uniform spacecraft temperatures, this methodology enables the instrument thermal engineer to make more informed design decisions by providing more information regarding the source and magnitude of the sink temperatures and backloads. The instrument thermal engineer can use the model information provided from the spacecraft thermal engineer to make more informed design decisions in subsequent analysis, and can be less dependent on the spacecraft thermal engineer.