An Overview of the Redesigned Space Station Thermal Control System

In the Spring of 1993, the Clinton administration called for a scaled down space station as part of a reduction in the funding level available for NASA projects. To take advantage of the products of the SSF program in containing costs, NASA considered the use Space Station Freedom (SSF) components and concepts to develop a new design. The redesigned space station concept that was developed calls for a significantly different Thermal Control (TC) than was used in the SSF design.

This paper provides an overview of the redesigned space station thermal control system. The top level design requirements are summarized as they relate to the functions the TC is to provide. The functional link of TC components and space station elements into the Internal Active TC (IATC), External Active TC (EATC), Photovoltaic Active TC (PVATC), Russian Segment TC (RSTC) and Passive TC (PTC) subsystems is discussed and presented in system schematics. Characteristics of each system are described as are the capabilities of the redesigned TC.