Alejandro Jose Valverde Sacristan

Tech for Space

Article

Thermal Control in Space

Heat Sources

Article series: Article number: 2

Thermal Control in Space

May 2, 2016
CONTENTS 1

Contents
1 Thermal Control Sources 2
1.1 External Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.1 Direct solar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.2 Albedo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.3 Planetary radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.4 Free molecular heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.5 Charged-particle heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 Internal Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

References 7
1 THERMAL CONTROL SOURCES 2

1 Thermal Control Sources

Do you remember what we talked about in the Article Thermal Control in Space? In this article
we made a general introduction to thermal control, applied not only in space but in several fields.
However, now we go a little step forward by describing the main heat sources that affect a spacecraft
during its mission in the solar system.

1.1 External Sources

External heat sources are those that come from outside the considered system. In this case, we define
the spacecraft as our system, so external sources are those caused by the environment. As you may
know, neither conduction or convection take place in space. Conduction only happens within the
spacecraft, as there is little matter in deep space, so no energy can be transferred through matter.
Regarding convection, a flow is necessary for it to happen, which is not the case in deep space. Finally,
only radiation remains, which is heat moving as energy waves. Hence, it is the only way to transfer
heat in space. There are three main types of radiation: direct solar, albedo and planetary flux.
However, other significant forms of environmental heating are, for instance, free molecular heating
and charged-particle heating. Is it not clear? Lets explore them in more detail.

1.1.1 Direct solar

The Sun is the main energy source in the Solar System. As it is very hot, it emits a lot of radiation.
Hence, it is directly responsible of the direct solar radiation and indirectly responsible for albedo.
However, some questions arise: is it a constant effect, or does it depend on some parameters?

As you may have guessed, intensity values through the Solar System depend on the distance from
the Sun. Right! Different bodies receive light of an intensity inversely proportional to the square
distance from this star, which is a conclusion of conservation of energy.
1
I (1)
d2

Figure 1: Intensity variation with distance [1]

Moreover, you need to know that a very important parameter is the solar constant, defined as the
intensity of sunlight at Earths mean distance from the Sun (1AU).
1 THERMAL CONTROL SOURCES 3

Despite the fact that the Sun has activity cycles of 11 years duration the direct solar radiation is
very stable, remaining almost constant. However, as the sunlight intensity varies with the distance
from the Sun, the solar flux is maximum at the passage of the perihelion and minimum at the passage
of the aphelion. This is caused by the elliptical orbit of our planet around the Sun.Nowadays, the
intensity of sunlight has a maximum at winter solstice (1414 W/m2 ) while in summer solstice it
presents a minimum (1322 W/m2 ) (See Figure 2).

Figure 2: Solar constant variation [2]

Different values of sunlight intensity are presented in the table below.

Solar radiation W/m2

Planet Distance (AU)
Perihelion Aphelion Maximum Minimum
Mercury 0.3075 0.4667 14,446 6,272
Venus 0.7184 0.7282 2,647 2,576
Earth 0.9833 1.017 1,413 1,321
Mars 1.382 1.666 715 492
Jupiter 4.950 5.458 55.8 45.9
Saturn 9.048 10.12 16.7 13.4
Uranus 18.38 20.08 4.04 3.39
Neptune 29.77 30.44 1.54 1.47
Pluto 29.66 48.87 1.55 0.57

Table 1: Intensity of solar radiation for the planets of the Solar System
1 THERMAL CONTROL SOURCES 4

1.1.2 Albedo
Do you remember what happens in summer when we use black clothes? Much better to use white
clothes right? No doubts about that. Albedo of planetary bodies refers to the same concept: how
moons, planets or asteroids surfaces reflect sunlight from the Sun. Hence it is defined as the ratio
between radiation reflected to total incident radiation. Zero stands for no reflection at all, (our black
clothes) while one would be a white surface.

Albedo is highly variable, depending on several factors such as the type of surface (continental
regions or oceanic regions, ice, snow..) or the weather (clouds). For instance, if the orbit of the
spacecraft goes over the terminator (the terminator is the moving line that separates the illuminated
day side and the dark night side of a planetary body), the albedo heat load will approach zero, no
matter what value of reflectivity it has, due to the fact that no reflection will take place (sunlight
beams will be parallel to the planet surface). However, in the subsolar point, where the surface is
perpendicular to the Suns rays, the heat load will be maximum. This phenomenon is shown in the
Figure 3.

Figure 3: Angular incidence of albedo [3]

1 THERMAL CONTROL SOURCES 5

1.1.3 Planetary radiation

Do you imagine a hot ball? All bodies at a temperature greater than 0K emit heat radiation. In the
Solar System, the Sun is the primary source of energy, and it is responsible of the incident sunlight
that heats the Earth. Hence, our planet will also become a heated ball and this heat will be emitted
as radiation. This is the basic idea behind planetary radiation.

All incident sunlight not reflected as albedo is absorbed by the moon or planet radiated by the
Suns rays. Moreover, other aspects as the internal energy generated by the planet contribute to
increase its total amount of energy. Eventually, this energy, known as planetary radiation or longwave
radiation, is returned to space emitted by the planet. It is characterized by its variability, so its value
changes a lot due to several factors, such as local temperature of the planets surface or the cloud
cover. For instance, desert and tropical regions emit more longwave radiation than the colder ones.
Meanwhile, radiation decreases with latitude, as it can be observed in 4.

Figure 4: Earths longwave thermal radiation intensity [4]

1.1.4 Free molecular heating

At the beginning of this article I said: No convection in space!. And it is true, but I would like
to make some comments about a form of convection that may affect spacecraft in the outer part of
the atmosphere. This type of environmental heating is caused by the bombardment of the spacecraft
by individual molecules. This is the reason why this phenomenon only occurs when the spacecraft
is placed in the outer part of the atmosphere, at the end of the launching phase, after the boosters
payload fairing is ejected or during re-entry.
1 THERMAL CONTROL SOURCES 6

1.1.5 Charged-particle heating

In space there are two types of radiation: ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. The first one has enough
energy to remove electrons from the orbits of atoms resulting in charged particles. The interaction with
these charged particles heats up the spacecraft. In other words, the interaction with charged particles
that are caused by ionizing radiation causes the spacecraft to heat up. Nevertheless, it is weaker than
the previous heating sources being significant just in cryogenic temperatures where sensitive systems
may be affected by these heat loads. For example, in the Van Allen belts regions there are several
trapped charged particles, which can modify the temperature of the satellite.

Figure 5: Van Allen belts [5]

1.2 Internal Sources

The last point is internal sources, which are related to the heat generated inside the spacecraft during
its operation. As neither convection nor conduction take place in space, the heat generated by elec-
tronic components, batteries and other elements has a great impact on the spacecrafts temperatures.
This is because heat cannot be dissipated so easily as just radiation plays a major role in space. Hence,
different devices are used to evacuate this heat.

After this article introducing heat sources in space, we will talk about different strategies used to
manage temperatures, so be patient and stay in touch!
REFERENCES 7

References
[1] IDEAS (Innovative Datasets for Environmental Analysis by Students). Solar Intensity. [Online].
2015. url: http : / / www . geog . ucsb . edu / ideas / Insolation . html # intensity (visited on
12/24/2015).
[2] WhatsUpWithThat. North and South poles. Important climate differences. [Online]. 2015. url:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/13/north-and-south-poles-important-climate-
differences/ (visited on 04/25/2016).
[3] Exploring Biomes. Insolation and Angle of Incidence. [Online]. 2015. url: https://akbiomes.
wordpress.com/2015/01/08/insolation-and-angle-of-incidence/ (visited on 12/24/2015).
[4] Wikipedia. Black-body radiation. [Online]. 2015. url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-
body_radiation (visited on 12/24/2015).
[5] NASA. Van Allen belts. [Online]. 2015. url: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/
news/gallery/ScienceCover.html (visited on 12/24/2015).