NASA SBIR 2003 Solicitation

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Christopher J Crowley
cjc@creare.com
16 Great Hollow Road, P.O. Box 71
Hanover, NH 03755-0071
(603)643-3800
U.S. Citizen or Legal Resident: Yes

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Lightweight, high-temperature radiators are needed for future, high-efficiency power conversion systems for Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP). Creare has developed flexible radiators that are extremely lightweight, stowable in small volumes, and deployable with small forces, but are limited by materials to temperatures below 350 K. These novel radiators incorporate integral micrometeorite protection. Our innovation is a material combination and fabrication method that produces radiator panels with low weight, high fin efficiency, and excellent strength at temperatures. Our goal is to provide a radiator technology based on prior technologies and provides a major advancement toward NASA's goals for light weight and high temperature operation in advanced radiators. The innovative approach does not require development of new materials, simply refinement of processes to join standard metal tubes and foils in the configuration desired. In Phase I we proved the feasibility of the concept and demonstrated the ability of the panel to operate at high temperature. Our lightweight radiator panel offers a factor of four reduction in weight compared with present honeycomb structures and will approach 1.5 kg/m? at a fin efficiency approaching 80%. During Phase II we propose to build, test, and deliver an subscale radiator that demonstrates the advantages of the technology.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
Many commercial communications satellites are being built that would benefit from lightweight radiator panels. At high ratios of rejected power to physical size, small commercial satellites need deployable radiators.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
This radiator technology is needed for NASA's Prometheus program. Future planetary exploration missions using NEP systems will require high-temperature radiators for heat rejection. The proposed radiator panel technology supports ongoing NASA research efforts (RF03-272702), specifically to develop heat rejection systems for this application.