Description: This effort is to produce and test three flight-like spacecraft thermal control systems enabled by the 3D Printed Loop Heat Pipe (3DP-LHP). Each system is a significant advancement over the baseline from the current programs, expanding the performance envelope of the 3DP-LHP and providing a path to achieving TRL 6 for future commercialization. Furthermore, these systems span a very diverse and disparate set of requirements covering both LEO/GEO and lunar environments, highlighting the versatility and near-indispensable relevance of the 3DP-LHP to both NASA and non-NASA missions. The proposed effort also has a significant amplifying impact on the investment due to the development of three relevant thermal control systems in a single program.

Benefits: The proposed effort has relevance to both NASA’s earth science and space missions. The 3DP-LHP can enable high-performance CubeSat and SmallSat constellations with advanced scientific instrumentation, serving NASA’s current and future earth science missions. The 3DP-LHP also serves as an enabling technology for the realization of advanced variable conductance thermal control systems for human-class lunar landers and habitats, serving NASA’s future lunar missions.

The 3DP-LHP can enable high-performance CubeSats/SmallSats with deployable radiator with significantly higher heat rejection capacity than the current state of the art. This can lead to improved commercial services in LEO/GEO, including earth-observation, telecommunications and internet, navigation, etc. Also, lunar landers and rovers, enabled by the 3DP-LHP, can lead to commercial lunar services.