Influence of External Insulation and Coating Transparence on Thermal Regimes of Space Vehicle

The numerical/experimental method for, and results of, evaluating insulation solar radiation transmission effects on in-flight temperature field of a space vehicle are presented.

The experiment subsection describes a new experimental method for evaluating materials solar-radiation transmittance, reflectance, and absorptance, as well as demonstrates test results for silica samples with various thicknesses.

The calculation subsection includes (1) interpolation of the experimental data into a function of the insulation layer thickness and (2) the numerical solution of the transient heat conduction equation for a thermal protection fragment consisting of an insulation layer cemented to a metal plate. Fragment temperature calculation results for various near-Earth orbits and fibrous silica insulation layer thicknesses are presented.

The results obtained show the essential influence of insulation solar-radiation transmission on space vehicle structure temperature in space flight.