Nichols Martin
Pennsylvania-based Advanced Cooling Technologies has secured $5 million in NASA funding to further develop a set of thermal control tools under the space agency’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Space News reported Friday.
ACT will use the SBIR phase two funds to work on radiators, heat transport and other thermal control technologies designed for use in space platforms such as rovers and landers.
Bill Anderson, chief engineer of ACT, said the funds will finance the development of technologies that do not need electric power to passively manage heat.
The effort aims to address the needs of smaller space vehicles whose thermals are significantly affected by the lunar surface’s slow rotation.
ACT has selected Astrobotic, which is developing lunar vehicles, to help test the thermal control devices. Astrobotic will equip the thermal control technologies on the Griffin lunar lander, which the company aims to provide for NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover lunar mission scheduled for 2023.
