A precursor GSP study (IPRAM) was performed to investigate systems for providing radiation environment specification and warnings for human spaceflight.

Based on the heat release of dedicated electronic boxes, a complete design, manufacturing and integration cycle will be performed for two different mass-efficient heat accumulators using phase change material avoiding overheat of specific electronic boxes on-board a launch vehicle.This includes also dedicated thermal, vibrational and structural analysis to withstand the complete flight mission with mounted electronic boxes.

Composite materials are widely used in space applications as they offer very high specific stiffness and strength properties. Their nature and manufacturing processes offer the possibility of embedding sensors for measuring fundamental quantities that can be used to monitor the structure during its entire life-cycle. Fiber optical sensors, for instance, are a promising candidate for this application. Optical fibers are compatible with common resins; they can be embedded into composites during conventional manufacturing processes such as hand layup, filament winding, tape placement, etc.

Background and justification:

Digital engineering tools have been used by space thermal analysts for decades, in particular the core modellers, and thermal/radiative kernels used in every space project. However, many parts of the thermal engineering and analysis process are still manual, data exchange is not standardised. Often these parts of the process lie between different main activities, or occur when pure ?thermal analysis? meets adjacent disciplines.

The use of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) components is and will always be an option to achieve space system performances that cannot be achieved with available space qualified components. For such components that are not latchup proof by design the use of protection circuitry is essential.