Northrop Grumman [NOC] will use an experiment on the International Space Station to test a new way to cool military satellite payloads, the company said recently.
The payload, the Massive Heat Transfer Experiment (MHTEX), is planned to be carried aboard the space shuttle Endeavor , which is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., later this week. This upcoming mission is one of two final shuttle flights planned by NASA.
“In space, it’s difficult to cool electronic systems and today’s methods have been stretched to their limits,” said Cecilia Penera, Northrop Grumman’s project manager and principal investigator for MHTEX. “The new method we are testing uses an advanced capillary pump loop that moves heat generated by electronic systems so it can be safely expelled from the spacecraft.”
MHTEX involves Northrop Grumman, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate and the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program.
The experiment is designed to show how satellite systems can be cooled eight times more efficiently than current systems, Northrop Grumman said.