Performance of the Spacelab Astro-2 Mission Integrated Radiator System

This paper presents the design, test, and flight performance of the Astro Integrated Radiator System, or IRS, a passive thermal control system which made its second Space Shuttle flight during March, 1995. The system was designed to provide thermal control for a cluster of ultraviolet telescopes which were mounted to an Instrument Pointing System (IPS) developed by the European Space Agency. Having no fluid piped to the payload over the gimbals of the IPS to provide heat transport, the thermal control of the telescopes and their supporting electronics had to be thermally autonomous, and the IRS was conceived to perform this task.