Spacecraft Thermal Environment Near Earth

To provide spacecraft thermal design engineers with the data needed to define the earth albedo and emission, we have analyzed data from the Earth Radiation Balance Experiment (ERBE) over a period of 36 months, covering orbital inclinations of 57 and 99 degrees. Design values of the albedo and earth emission can be obtained from this data directly; however, we present an earth-map (zonal) method for computing design values for any orbital parameters. In addition, the zonal method permits less pessimistic assumptions to be made in a proof-of-design simulation.