Thermal Control Architecture for a Planetary and Lunar Surface Exploration Micro-Robot
Name
space_micro_robot.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
222.94 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
35e7bbd499847c7797b9f65073e58f11
Author(s)
Burg, Brian R
Dubowsky, Steven
Lienhard, John H
Poulikakos, Dimos
Date Issued
2007
Journal
AIP Conference Proceedings
Publisher
AIP
Citation
Burg, Brian R, Dubowsky, Steven, Lienhard, John H and Poulikakos, Dimos. 2007. "Thermal Control Architecture for a Planetary and Lunar Surface Exploration Micro-Robot." AIP Conference Proceedings, 880 (1).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
A thermal control architecture design study is conducted for a novel robotic planetary and lunar surface exploration concept. The concept is based on the deployment of a large number of small spherical mobile robots over large areas, which employ hopping, bouncing and rolling as means of locomotion. The aim of the research is to prevent freezing and overheating of the robots, without compromising their mechanical and thermal reliability and stability. The proposed thermal control architecture relies on a low emissive silver surface coating and a low conductive silica aerogel insulation layer. This enables a single design to be used for several important potential explorations. The effects of a thermal control heat rejection mechanism, composed of a variable emittance coating and heat switch, are also studied in order to increase mission flexibility. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.
MIT Department
Rohsenow Kendall Heat Transfer Laboratory (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2437439
