EO-1 Carbon-Carbon Radiator

Last Update: 10/23/02

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	Validation Plan Technology Description Documentation
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	NASA Official/Author: Nick Speciale Curator: Trish Johnson Leslie Allen Development Credits Official Notice: Privacy Statement

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The New Millenium Program (NMP) Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft uses six passive radiators, each consisting of sandwich panels constructed with aluminum honeycomb core.

Carbon-Carbon Radiator - click it for the full size image

Five of the six radiator panels use standard aluminum facesheets. On the sixth radiator panel, as an EO-1 technology demonstration item, the aluminum facesheets were replaced with an experimental panel that utilized Carbon-Carbon(C-C) material for its facesheets. The objective of this technology validation was to demonstrate that C-C could be a cost efficient facesheet material for honeycomb core radiator panels.

Carbon-Carbon is a special composite material that uses pure carbon for both the fiber and matrix. The New Millennium Program's Earth Observing-1 Mission (EO-1) is the first to use this material in a primary structure, serving as both an advanced thermal radiator and a load bearing structure. The advantages of Carbon-Carbon include the following:

High thermal conductivity including through thickness.

Good strength and weight characteristics.

Use of Carbon-Carbon Radiators (CCR) may simplify thermal radiator design in some applications (e.g., No need for actively cooled radiators) and support increased science payload mass fraction for future missions.

Dan Butler
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Mail Code: 545
Phone: (301) 286-3478
Email: Charles.D.Butler.1@gsfc.nasa.gov

Nick Speciale
EO-1 Mission Technologist
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Mail Code: 490
Phone (301) 286-8704
Email: Nicholas.J.Speciale.1@gsfc.nasa.gov